THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

Biology 

BEQUEST  OF 

Theodore  S.  Palmer 


r 


BIRD.  OBSERVATIONS  NEAR 
CHICAGO 


Bkd  Observations 

Near 
Chicago 

Ellen  Drummond  Farwell 

Introduction  lay 
Mary  Drummond 

}M,  Illustrations 


IVtvately  Printed 


Copyrighted  1919 

by 
John  V.  Farwcll 


FOREWORD 

Ellen  Drummond  Farwell  loved  birds 
for  many  reasons,  but  especially  because 
they  seemed  to  her  the  spiritual  in  nature. 

To  her  their  songs  expressed  the  spon- 
taneous joy  and  gladness  of  a  life,  seem- 
ingly higher  and  freer  in  some  respects 
than  our  own. 

During  the  last  years  of  her  life,  as  her 
duties  and  pleasures  became  more  and 
more  restricted,  she  spent  some  of  her 
happiest  moments  observing  the  birds  on 
our  place  and  in  the  neighborhood.  Once 
in  the  South  and  once  abroad  she  made 
notes  of  what  she  saw. 

As  Mr.  Henry  Oldys  and  some  other 
trained  observers,  in  reading  these  notes, 
felt  that  quite  a  number  of  bird  lovers,  old 
and  young,  would  enjoy  comparing  their 
notes  with  these,  and  that  in  so  doing  some 
little  additional  knowledge  might  be  re- 
corded, I  decided  at  their  suggestion  to 
print  a  small  edition  for  personal  friends 
and  a  few  others  who  might  enjoy  having 
them. 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 
Ardleigh,  January  20, 

m 


563 


CONTENTS 

Page 

Foreword  $ 

Introduction  1 1 

Warblers  Identified,  Elmhurst  and 

Lake  Forest 17 

List  of  Birds  that  We  Have  Found 

Nesting  in  Ardleigh  and  Edgewood  1 9 
List  of  Birds  Observed  at  Augusta, 

Ga 21 

Number  of  Species  Observed  at  One 

Time '.  23 

General  Observations 25 

Bird  Observations  in  Europe 169 

Notes  Made  from  Collection  of  Birds 

in  Illinois  Building  at  the  World's 

Fair 185 

Birds  Observed  at  Savannah,  Ga..  .  .  189 


Observations  before  July,  1896,  were 
made  generally  in  Elmhurst,  after  that 
generally  in  Lake  Forest. 

[7] 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Portrait  of  Mrs.  Farwell.  .  .  .Frontispiece 

Opposite  page 
Spotted  Sand  Piper 17 

Nest  of  Meadow  Lark 23 

Ardleigh 25 

Young  .Chicadee 40 

Nest  of  Indigo  Bunting 62 

Great  Horned  Owl  (captive) 74 

Young  Phoebes 77 

Nashville  Warbler 142 

Nest  of  Field  Sparrow 188 


The  photographs  from  which  these  illus- 
trations were  made  were  taken  by  Henry 
Emerson  Tattle  through  whose  courtesy 
the\  are  used. 


[9] 


INTRODUCTION 

It  is  hoped  that  these  "Bird  Observa- 
tions" by  Ellen  Drummond  Farwell  may 
be  welcomed  by  bird  students,  because  of 
the  accuracy  and  extent  of  their  observa- 
tions and  the  possibility  that  they  may 
supply  some  new  data,  particularly  as  to 
bird  songs.  By  Mrs.  Farwell's  personal 
friends  they  will  also  be  welcomed  as 
bringing  back  to  them  the  thought  of  one 
whose  mental  ability,  true  Christian  love- 
liness and  nobility  of  character  created  a 
personality  always  uplifting  and  strength- 
ening in  its  influence. 

Partly  through  the  influence  of  Mrs. 
Sara  A.  Hubbard,  to  whom  many  can  trace 
their  first  interest  in  birds,  and  partly,  it 
sometimes  seemed,  because  of  a  kinship 
between  the  birds,  the  least  earthly  of  the 
animal  creation, 

"Whose  habitations  in  the  tree-tops  even, 
Are    half-way    houses    on    the    road   to 
Heaven," 

and  her  own  deeply  spiritual  nature,  she 
turned  more  and  more  to  bird  study  with 
much  interest  and  pleasure.  Like  most 


Introduction 

bird  students,  she  soon  formed  the  habit 
of  jotting  down  her  experiences  and  the 
"observations"  are  the  result — kept,  it 
need  hardly  be  said — with  no  thought  of 
their  being  seen  by  any  but  her  closest 
friends  and  fellow  bird  lovers. 

For  a  number  of  years,  in  spite  of  long 
intervals  of  illness,  these  notes  were  kept, 
the  last  being  entered  not  many  days  be- 
fore her  death. 

It  was  a  very  curious  fact  that  while  the 
ordinary  songs  of  the  birds  did  not  rouse 
her  from  her  light  morning  sleep,  an  un- 
usual note  would  waken  her  at  once ;  that, 
in  the  spring  before  her  death,  when  all 
she  could  see  and  hear  of  the  birds  was 
from  her  bed,  a  Hermit  Thrush  should 
sing  his  lovely  song  near  her  window 
seemed  like  a  special  benediction.  His 
song  is  rarely  heard  in  this  latitude  and 
her  joy  in  it  was  great.  Her  hearing  was 
very  acute  and  she  knew  all  the  common 
and  most  of  the  uncommon  notes  of  the 
birds  of  this  region. 

Mrs.  Farwell  was  not  only  a  bird 
student  but  a  bird  lover  and  this  implied, 
with  one  like  her,  that,  as  much  happiness 
came  to  her  from  the  birds,  so  she  must 
do  for  their  happiness  all  in  her  power 

[12] 


Introduction 

and  so  it  was  that  she  was  one  of  the 
chief  organizers  of  the  Illinois  Audubon 
Society  (April,  1897),  and  served,  either 
as  director  or  vice-president,  till  her  death. 
Must  we  not  feel  that  her  chief  wish,  in 
the  publication  of  these  notes,  would  be 
that  they  might  help,  in  their  measure,  the 
cause  of  bird  protection,  which  was  so 
near  her  heart,  and  for  which  she  worked 
so  earnestly  and  well? 

MARY  DRUMMOND. 
Lake  Forest,  January  20, 


[13] 


BIRD  OBSERVATIONS  NEAR 
CHICAGO 


Spotted  Sandpiper 
Brooding  Young  *t 


BIRD  OBSERVATIONS 


WARBLERS  IDENTIFIED 

Elmhurst  and  Lake  Forest 

BAY-BREASTED, 
.     BLACK  AND  WHITE, 

BLACK-THROATED  BLUE, 

BLACK-THROATED  GREEN, 

BLACKBURNIAN, 

BLACK-POLL, 

CANADIAN, 

CAPE  MAY, 

CERULEAN, 

CHESTNUT-SIDED, 

CONNECTICUT, 

GOLDEN-WINGED, 

MAGNOLIA, 

MOURNING, 

MYRTLE, 

MARYLAND  YELLOW-THROAT, 

NASHVILLE, 

ORANGE-CROWNED, 

OVEN-BIRD, 

PARULA, 

[17] 


Bird  Observations 

PINE, 
PALM, 

REDSTART, 

TENNESSEE, 

WILSON'S, 

WATER-THRUSH, 

LOUISIANA  WATER-THRUSH, 

YELLOW, 
YELLOW-BREASTED  CHAT. 

In  Georgia. 

YELLOW-THROATED, 
HOODED. 


[18] 


LIST  OF  BIRDS  THAT  WE  HAVE 

FOUND  NESTING  IN  ARDLEIGH 

AND  EDGEWOOD 

List  begun  in  1907,  but  including  former 
years  also 

CATBIRD,  yellow  warbler,  robin,  blue 
jay,  scarlet  tanager,  towhee,  redstart, 
red-eyed  vireo,  great  crested  flycatcher, 
phoebe,  wood  thrush,  flicker,  red-headed 
woodpecker,  cedar  bird,  chimney  swift, 
indigo  bird,  brown  thrasher,  song  sparrow, 
house  wren. 

August  8,  igoi.  Saw  first  fall  migrant, 
a  young  warbler,  what  species  I  could  not 
decide. 

May  2  and  3,  1902.  After  a  warm  day, 
and  a  shower  the  night  of  May  ist,  I 
observed  twenty-three  new  immigrants, 
fourteen  of  them  warblers,  in  the  two 
days. 


[19] 


Bird  Observations 

hierfc'/iri  two  hours  in  the  morning.  On 
this  day  I  saw  three  Blackburnians,  one 
bay-breasted,  one  black-throated  blue,  two 
chestnut  sided  and  a  parula  in  one  tree. 
Warblers  very  abundant  this  year. 

•May  i$y  18^4.  Eleven  species  war- 
blers. 

May  7 ,  1895.    Eleven  species  warblers. 


GENERAL    OBSERVATIONS 

May  12,  IQ05,  at  Lake  Forest, 
noted  fifty-seven  species 

BLUEBIRD,  bobolink,  indigo  bird,  cat- 
bird, cowbird,  crow,  Acadian  fly- 
catcher, yellow-bellied  flycatcher,  chebec, 
phoebe,  blue  grey  gnatcatcher,  goldfinch, 
humming  bird,  jay,  kingbird,  ruby  kinglet, 
nighthawk,  Baltimore  oriole,  robin,  sap- 
sucker,  red-headed  woodpecker,  house 
sparrow,  song  sparrow,  vesper  sparrow, 
white-throated  sparrow,  swift,  tanager, 
brown  thrasher,  grey-checked  thrush,  wood 
thrush,  olive-backed  thrush,  Wilson's 
thrush,  towhee,  red-eyed  vireo,*  yellow 
throated-vireo.  (Warblers),  black-throat- 
ed green,  black-throated  blue,  black  and 
white  creeper,  Blackburnian,  Canadian, 
chestnut-sided,  Cape  May,  magnolia, 
myrtle,  Maryland  yellow-throat,  oven 
bird,  orange-crowned,*  parula,  palm, 
Tennessee,  Wilson's,  yellow,  water  thrush, 
redstart,  house  wren,  whip-poor-will. 

May  75,  1906.    Noted  fifty-six  species, 
Lake  Forest.    Catbird,  house  wren,  brown 

*  Not  absolutely  certain. 

[25] 


Bird  Observations 

thrasher,  cowbird,  red-wing,  blackbird, 
grackle,  Baltimore  oriole,  meadow  lark, 
bobolink,  robin,  wood  thrush,  Wilson's 
thrush,  bluebird,  towhee,  blue  jay,  crow, 
swift,  martin,  chickadee,  mourning  dove, 
kingbird,  phoebe,  pewee,  great  crested  fly- 
caitcher,  chebec,  red-headed  woodpecker, 
downy,  sapsucker,  flicker,  chipping  spar- 
row, field,  vesper,  song  and  house  sparrow, 
indigo  bird,  rose-breasted  grosbeak,  gold- 
finch, tanager,  red-eyed  vireo,  solitary 
vireo,  yellow-throated  vireo,  coot,  Virginia 
rail,  Carolina  rail,  yellow,  cerulean,  black- 
throated  blue,  black-throated  green,  black 
and  white  creeper,  chestnut-sided,  redstart, 
oven  bird,  Blackburnian  and  Maryland 
yellow-throat  warblers,  also  a  Louisiana 
Water-thrush  (probably  a  Louisiana), 
and  whip-poor-will. 


[26] 


(Lake  Forest) 

Jl/TAY  18,  1901.  Twelve  species 
J.V1  warblers.  Bay-breasted,  black  and 
white  creeper,  Blackburnian,  black- 
throated  blue,  Canadian,  redstart,  yellow, 
oven  bird,  Tennessee,  Louisiana  water 
thrush,  chestnut-sided  and  magnolia. 

May  12,  1904.  Sixteen  species  war- 
blers, all  in  Lake  Forest  village. 

May  14,  1904.  Saw  from  my  window 
and  porch  10  species  warblers.  Redstart, 
black  throated  blue,  Blackburnian,  magno- 
lia, yellow,  Wilson's,  Canadian,  black  and 
white  creeper,  Tennessee,  black-poll. 

May  14,  1906.  Sixteen  species,  Black- 
throated  blue,  black-throated  green,  Black- 
burnian, black  and  white  creeper,  Cana- 
dian, chestnut-sided,  magnolia,  myrtle, 
Maryland  yellow-throat,  oven  bird,  Ten- 
nessee, yellow,  Wilson's,  water  thrush, 
Louisiana  water  thrush,  redstart. 

May  14,  1907.  Thirteen  warblers, 
forty-nine  species  in  all,  beside  some  her- 
ons, probably  black  crowned  night,  and  a 
vireo,  probably  red  eyed. 

May  1 6,  1907.  Sixteen  warblers,  four- 
teen of  them  on  the  ground  on  our  place 

[27] 


Bird  Observations 

(the  mourning  on  F.  D.'s  screen  porch). 
They  have  been  tumbling  and  flitting  about 
the  lawn  all  day,  rarely  in  the  trees.  Such 
a  view  of  warblers  I  have  never  seen. 
They  were  all  so  wonderfully  tame,  and 
would  feed  within  a  few  feet  of  us.  It 
was  a  moderate  day  as  to  temperature,  a 
light  westerly  wind  and  partly  sunny. 
Species:  Black  and  white  creeper,  bay 
breasted,  Blackburnian,  Canadian,  chest- 
nut sided,  Cape  May,  golden-winged,  mag- 
nolia, Maryland  yellow-throat,  mourning, 
redstart,  Wilson's,  yellow,  oven  bird,  and 
in  the  Durand  ravine,  Louisiana  Water- 
Thrush  and  orange  crowned  warbler. 

May  23,  1907.  Saw  eleven  species, 
nine  of  them  close  to  the  house.  They 
were  on  the  roof  a  great  deal,  dashing  af- 
ter insects.  It  was  after  twenty-four 
hours  of  heavy,  wet  weather.  Black- 
throated  blue  and  green,  Connecticut 
(male  and  female),  orange-crowned  (seen 
against  the  roof  plainly),  redstart,  mag- 
nolia, Maryland  yellow-throat,  Cape 
May,  Grinnell's  water  thrush,  chestnut 
sided,  yellow.  This  has  been  a  cold,  late 
spring  and  warblers  are  very  late  in  going 
through.  The  trees,  too,  are  not  yet  in 
leaf,  so  one  can  see  them  very  plainly.  I 

[28] 


Bird  Observations 

saw  many  individuals  of  most  of  the  above 
kinds. 

May  27,  1907.  Two  Cape  Mays,  sev- 
eral redstarts,  a  Wilson,  a  chestnut-sided, 
a  Canadian,  and  of  course  some  yellow 
warblers  all  in  our  yard  this  morning;  also 
at  Mr.  Day's  and  here,  the  magnolia, 
black-throated  blue  and  Blackburnian. 

May  28,  1907.  This  remarkable  spring 
the  warblers  are  still  lingering  and  still 
mostly  flying  very  low.  Observed  today 
the  black  throated  green  and  blue,  Cape 
May,  Wilson's,  magnolia,  yellow,  redstart, 
Canadian,  Maryland  yellow-throat,  pa- 
rula,  a  mourning  (probably). 

1908.  A  few  myrtles  and  palms  came 
in  an  early  migration  wave  about  the  mid- 
dle of  April  as  reported  by  Mrs.  Moss 
and  others.  (I  was  ill  in  bed.)  This  was 
followed  by  a  remarkable  spell  of  con- 
tinued cold  and  northeast  winds,  from 
about  April  23  to  May  9,  when  very  warm 
weather  set  in.  This  cold  weather  ended 
with  several  days  of  fierce  northeast 
storm.  No  warblers  were  reported  as  far 
as  I  know  in  this  period  of  over  two 
weeks.  I  only  saw  one,  (which  I  could 
not  identify)  and  a  water  thrush,  which  I 
heard. 

[29] 


Bird  Observations 

May  n,  1908.  I  saw  eleven  species 
and  heard  the  water  thrush. 

May  27,  1908.  Noted  fifty-one  species 
of  birds:  Wood  thrush,  bluebird,  robin, 
northern  yellow-throated,  redstart  and  yel- 
low warblers,  Baltimore  and  orchard 
orioles,  song,  field,  vesper  and  grasshopper 
sparrows,  Dickcissel,  goldfinch,  scarlet 
tanager,  redwing,  yellow-headed  blackbird, 
grackle,  cowbird,  flicker,  red-headed  wood- 
pecker, indigo  bird,  red-eyed  vireo,  war- 
bling vireo,  barn  and  cave  swallows,  mar- 
tin, brown  thrasher,  catbird,  house  wren, 
blue  jay,  cedar  bird,  coot,  bittern,  black 
tern,  bobolink,  phoebe,  kingbird,  crested 
flycatcher,  pewee,  meadow  lark,  shore 
lark,  kingfisher,  swift,  mourning  warbler, 
mourning  dove,  rose-breasted  grosbeak, 
veery,  chewink,  nighthawk,  oven  bird. 

May  I3>  1909.  Thirteen  warblers, 
myrtle,  magnolia,  Tennessee,  black- 
throated  green,  black-throated  blue,  black 
and  white,  Blackburnian,  yellow,  redstart, 
golden-winged,  oven  bird,  chestnut-sided 
and  Cape  May.  On  May  14,  1909,  four- 
teen warblers,  same  as  preceding  except 
myrtle  and  golden-winged,  with  parula, 
water  thrush  and  Nashville  added. 

[30] 


Bird  Observations 

May  23,  1910-  Noted  eleven  warblers 
from  Kay's  balcony. 

May  22-23,  1910.  First  "rush"  of 
warblers  on  our  place;  very  cold  May. 

June  5,  19 10.  Many  migrant  warblers 
still  here. 


AMERICAN  BITTERN 

MAY  14,  1906.  Found  one  roosting 
in  a  thorn  tree  not  one  hundred 
feet  from  the  house.  He  sat  there  as  long 
as  we  wanted  to  study  him,  and  we  came 
as  near  as  we  liked,  he  following  us  all  the 
time  with  his  strange  yellow  eye.  He  sat 
like  a  ten  pin  on  the  branch,  his  neck  and 
bill  stretched  straight  up  and  a  front  view 
looking  like  this : 


his  eyes  looking  perfectly  round,  not  fore- 
shortened to  an  oval,  a  most  curious  and 
weird  effect.  He  still  sat  there,  immov- 
able, when  we  left.  What  protective  col- 
oring. His  stripes  look  like  brown  reeds, 
and  his  light  colored  bill  looks  like  the  tip 
of  one. 

[32] 


COW    BLACKBIRD 

April  3,   1894 
(Elmhurst) 

THE  cowbirds  mingle  a  good  deal  with 
the  grackles  when  migrating.  They 
are  easily  distinguished  from  them  by 
their  smaller  size  and  less  conspicuous 
tails.  The  males  have  brown  heads  and 
necks  and  black  bodies;  the  females  are 
grey  all  over.  They  utter  while  flying  a 
peculiar  long  whistling  note,  ending  with  a 
quickly  repeated  trembling  note  on  a  little 
higher  key.  It  is  rather  a  plaintive  song 
— if  it  can  be  called  a  song — and  is  quite 
different  from  the  scratching,  cackling 
notes  of  most  blackbirds.  They  only 
seem  to  practice  this  song  a  comparatively 
short  time  in  the  year,  in  April  and  May. 
I  have  also  heard  them  utter  a  harsh  rat- 
tle while  flying,  much  like  the  rattled  notes 
of  the  meadow  lark.  I  think  the  females 
made  this  note  but  am  not  sure. 

May,  iqo6.  The  males  make  a  noise 
just  like  the  gurgle  of  water  through  a 
long  necked  bottle. 

[33] 


BLACK-THROATED  BUNTING 

June  8,  1894 
May  7,  1895 
May  12,  1896 

(Elmhurst) 

THE  incessant  chee-chee-chee-chee-chee 
of  this  bird  may  get  monotonous 
when  heard  too  often,  but  it  is  always  a 
delightful  sound  to  me.  Its  reedy  quality 
attracts  me ;  and  it  always  means  long  June 
days  and  sunny  prairies  to  me.  It  is  essen- 
tially a  denizen  of  the  meadows.  Few 
birds  are  more  abundant  or  more  promi- 
nent than  these  buntings  are  here.  They 
mount  on  posts  or  tall  grasses  and  shout 
at  you  energetically  as  you  drive  by,  not 
in  the  least  alarmed  at  your  presence.  In 
Lake  Forest  they  are  not  so  abundant.  I 
only  see  a  few  birds  out  west. 

May  27,  1908.  I  saw  two  and  heard 
two  more  when  going  out  to  Libertyville 
today.  I  have  not  seen  or  heard  one  since 
1904. 


[34] 


BLUEBIRD 

March  2y  1893 
March  3,  1894 

THE  pair  that  built  in  my  box  in  1893 
raised  two  broods.  In  1894  they 
began  building.  May  3d,  1895,  I  have 
seen  no  sign  of  a  bluebird  up  to  this  time 
— May  13 — and  no  one  else  has  seen  one 
here  either.  It  is  most  remarkable.  May 
28,  still  no  bluebirds.  July  14,  heard  one 
warble  today,  the  first  one  of  the  season. 
The  latter  part  of  July,  1895,  I  saw  a 
family  of  six  birds.  September,  1895,  I 
heard  one  warble,  the  first  one  observed 
near  our  house  this  year,  the  others  were 
seen  on  drives. 


[35] 


CARDINAL  GROSBEAK 

I  OBSERVED  this  bird  first  at  Harrow- 
gate,  Tennessee,  in  April,  1894,  and  be- 
came very  familiar  with  him  in  Augusta, 
Georgia,  in  March,  1895,  and  in  other 
southern  trips.  But  I  had  never  seen  him 
in  our  northern  regions  till  today,  April 
4,  1902.  A  female  has  been  seen  with 
him  by  Emerson  Tuttle,  but  I  saw  only 
the  one  bird,  a  male.  He)  sang,  and  the 
song  impressed  me  as  very  varied;  the 
opening  notes  like  a  robin's  warble,  then 
a  few  chords,  a  warble  too,  but  with  the 
double  sound  which  the  veery  has,  only,  of 
course,  bold  and  loud.  His  whistles  always 
have  inflection  in  them. 

April  15,  1909.  Saw  and  heard  a  male 
cardinal  at  the  Byron  Smith's.  He  sang 
frequently,  a  loud  clear  whistle.  Mrs. 
Burnap  reported  that  she  saw  him  yester- 
day and  two  females  were  with  him. 

June  5,  19 10.  A  cardinal  woke  me  with 
his  loud  sweet  whistle  this  morning. 
Never  heard  one  on  our  place  before.  He 
was  in  the  maple  by  my  window.  He  sang 
several  times. 

[36] 


Bird  Observations 

June  ig  and  26,  IQIO.  Sang  both  these 
days;  must  be  nesting  near  here. 

May  5,  1912.  Heard  today  and  many 
days  after  on  our  place. 

June  ig  and  20.     Again. 


[37] 


CATBIRD 

May  4,  1894 
April  27,  1896 
May  8,  1897 

1  THINK  each  year  that  I  have  learned 
all  the  catbird's  odd  ways,  but  each 
spring  as  he  returns  he  surprises  me  with 
some  new  vagaries  either  in  song  or  be- 
havior. He  seems  to  revel  in  the  un- 
expected. 

May  30  1895.  At  2  130  this  morning 
I  woke  up  and  the  first  sound  I  heard  was 
the  soft  singing  of  a  catbird  in  the  trees 
across  the  field.  It  sounded  strange  in  the 
darkness  of  the  night,  and  the  strangest 
part  of  it  was  that  he  kept  on  singing  in  a 
broken,  meditative  sort  of  way  for  a  full 
hour.  By  that  time  the  first  streaks  of 
dawn  began  to  appear,  and  the  chorus  of 
other  birds  drowned  his  voice. 


[38! 


CEDAR  BIRD 

April  5,  1893 
(Elm  hurst) 

NOT    a    common    bird    here.      Much 
commoner  in  Lake  Forest. 
August  9,    1901.      Found  a  nest  in  a 
nearby  elm  containing  four  eggs;  how  late 
in  the  season! 


[39] 


CHICKADEE 

August  25,  1893 
(Elmhurst) 

THESE  birds  do  not  seem  as  plentiful 
here  as  the  books  report  them  in  the 
east.  The  quality  of  their  note,  chick-a- 
dee-dee,  is  something  like  that  of  the  che- 
wink's  call  note,  strident,  but  sweeter  and 
of  course  much  fainter  and  finer.  The 
plaintive  clear  minor  whistle  of  two  notes, 
the  first  higher,  the  second  a  half  note 
lower,  I  have  also  frequently  heard. 

April  /'/,  1903.  A  note  1  did  not  rec- 
ognize at  first  I  found  to  be  that  of  this 
bird.  It  sounded  like  a  blackbird  in  the 
distance.  It  was  a  decided  cut-cut-ca-da- 
cut  strongly  emphasized  at  the  end,  and 
rather  harsh,  not  contented  as  a  hen 
gives  it. 


[40] 


Young  Chlcadee 


CAROLINA  CHICKADEE 

March  2gy  1895 
(Georgia) 

LIKE   our  northern  bird,  but  without 
the  white  edges  to  the  tail.    The  note 
is   described  most   accurately  in  Torrey's 
Florida    Sketch    Book,    four    notes,    very 
sweet. 


[41] 


COWBIRD 

24,  1905.  Heard  a  loud  rasping 
"ker-chee-e-e"  in  the  woods,  utterly 
unlike  any  note  I  ever  heard  a  cowbird 
utter  before.  I  felt  sure  it  was  some 
strange  flycatcher  note  till  I  saw  the  bird. 
He  uttered  it  many  times,  such  a  queer, 
grating  sound.  It  never  occurred  to  me  it 
could  be  anything  but  a  flycatcher  till  I 
watched  the  bird  do  it. 


[421 


BROWN    CREEPER 

Spring,   1893 
October  13 
April  3,  1894 

SAW  one  in  Lake  Forest  as  late  as  May 
13  in  1907. 


[43] 


AMERICAN  CROSSBILL 

November  iy   1895 
August  23,  1896 

MY  attention  was  attracted  this  after- 
noon by  a  flock  of  about  twenty 
birds  flying  vigorously  and  directly  to- 
wards some  spruce  trees  near  me.  They 
were  uttering  a  clear,  whistling  chirp  con- 
stantly as  they  flew.  I  was  sure  they  were 
birds  I  was  unfamiliar  with,  and  when 
they  settled  on  the  tops  of  the  spruces  and 
I  brought  my  glass  to  bear  on  them  I  was 
delighted  to  recognize  this  long-looked  for 
species.  There  were  a  few  bright  colored 
males,  but  most  of  them  were  the  plainer 
olive  females  and  the  striped  young  birds. 
They  were  exceedingly  tame,  and  were 
busily  engaged  in  crawling  up  and  down 
the  branches  and  crunching  the  cone  seeds 
in  their  bills.  They  made  a  decided  noise 
with  their  wings  when  they  fluttered  about, 
louder  than  that  of  an  English  sparrow. 
Their  crossed  bills  and  short  tails  are  con- 
spicuous points. 

August,  1896.  I  saw  a  large  flock  to- 
day as  I  was  sitting  on  the  porch  of  our 
new  house.  I  recognized  them  at  once  by 
the  notes.  Most  of  them  were  young  birds. 

[44] 


BLACK-BILLED  CUCKOO 

Ti/fAY  19,  1902.  I  find  this  species 
J-VJ-  much  less  common  here  than  the 
yellow  billed;  saw  one  unmistakably  this 
morning. 


1 45] 


YELLOW-BILLED  CUCKOO 

1892 

May,  1893 
May  14,  1894 
May  13,  1895 

(Lake  Forest) 

A  PRIL  29,  1901.  Had  a  fine  view  of 
-*1  this  bird  in  a  bare  tree.  How  rufous 
his  wings  are  and  his  bill  looks  as  if  it 
were  all  yellow  and  not  just  the  lower 
mandible,  at  least  it  looks  so  in  the  sun. 
No  notes  from  this  bird  today.  I  wish  I 
could  tell  his  notes  from  the  black-billed. 
Was  it  this  bird  that  has  been  giving  a  low 
coo  at  intervals  for  several  days?  (July 
31,  1901)  or  the  black-billed?  I  could 
only  see  that  it  was  a  cuckoo,  not  a  bittern 
as  we  first  thought.  He  keeps  this  cooing 
up  'for  hours ;  so  different  from  his  loud 
cow-cow-cow-ing. 


[46] 


ACADIAN    FLYCATCHER 

MAY  50,  1907.  Watched  two  on  the 
barn  fence  for  a  long  time.  They 
tilt  their  tails  as  the  phoebe  does,  only  it 
is  a  much  more  nervous  and  rapid  motion 
than  the  phoebe's.  A  wood  pewee  was  on 
the  same  fence  uttering  his  sweet  wail 
many  times,  and  I  could  compare  the  two 
to  great  advantage.  The  Acadian  looked 
so  small  and  green  beside  the  pewee.  His 
wings  were  so  barred  and  his  eye  ring  so 
noticeable. 


[47] 


GREAT-CRESTED  FLYCATCHER 

June  13,  1894 
June  2,  1895 
May  8,  1897 
May  21,  1898 

THIS  fellow  just  lit  on  a  branch  near 
me  on  the  road  to  the  spring  for  a 
minute,  and  then  was  off  and  away,  and  I 
saw  no  more  of  him  this  summer  of  1894. 
In  Lake  Forest,  June  2,  1895,  I  again 
saw  him  and  heard  him  give  his  loud  wild 
cry,  but  I  have  not  yet  had  a  satisfactory 
study  of  the  bird. 

June  75,  1895.  I  had  quite  a  good  look 
at  the  great-crest  today.  The  sulphur  yel- 
low is  so  conspicuous  underneath. 

M ay,  1906.  When  he  flies  he  looks  al- 
most as  long  as  a  cuckoo. 


[48] 


LEAST  FLYCATCHER 

....,  1893 

May  12,  189$ 

IN  my  four  years  of  bird  study  (1895) 
I  have  only  observed  this  little  fellow 
twice;  never  have  heard  him  utter  a  sound. 


[49] 


OLIVE-SIDED  FLYCATCHER 

MRS.  HUBBARD  pointed  this  bird 
out  to  me  once  on  a  high,  oak  in  our 
yard.  I  do  not  know  what  year,  perhaps 
about  1904  or  1905,  but  I  had  a  poor  study 
of  him  on  that  day.  Today,  May  13, 
1907,  I  watched  him  as  long  as  I  wanted 
to  in  a  most  favorable  situation.  He  was 
perched  on  the  dead  stub  of  a  tree,  on  the 
bluff  on  the  Buckingham  place,  and  as  the 
tree  wras  below  me  he  was  nearly  on  a  level 
with  me.  He  is  a  powerful  looking  bird. 
Such  a  strong  bill,  and  such  vigorous  move- 
ments as  he  had!  He  would  dart  at  in- 
sects a  great  distance  away,  but  always 
returned  to  the  same  stub  at  the  top  of  the 
tree.  I  noticed  that  he  always  faced  south, 
no  matter  at  what  angle  he  lit  on  the  stub 
he  always  took  his  position  facing  me  and 
turned  his  eye  towards  the  sun,  which  was 
bright  and  hot,  without  blinking.  It  was 
the  same  when  I  went  to  the  west  of  him: 
he  still  faced  south,  so  it  was  evidently  not 
done  with  the  object  of  keeping  an  eye  on 
me.  Was  it  that  he  saw  the  insects  better 
between  the  sun  and  himself,  I  wonder? 


[•50] 


FLORIDA  GALLINULE 

Ji/TAY  18,  1902.  We  were  walking  in 
*rJ.  the  McCormicks'  ravine  when  I 
chanced  to  see  a  bird  sitting  perfectly  still 
on  a  high  crotch  of  a  maple.  We  all 
viewed  it  through  our  glasses  as  long  as 
we  wanted  to.  Saw  the  leaden  black 
breast  and  the  brilliant  red  patch  above  the 
bill.  It  never  moved,  except  to  turn  its 
head  now  and  then  for,  I  should  think, 
twenty  minutes.  It  looked  like  a  rail,  but 
I  had  never  heard  of  one  such  an  extraor- 
dinary color.  Finally  John  and  John 
Case  threw  stones  to  make  it  fly,  but  it 
simply  craned  its  neck  over  to  look  at 
them.  They  banged  the  tree  with  a  big 
stick,  but  it  would  not  budge.  Finally  as 
we  were  turning  to  go  it  crept  stealthily  up 
the  sloping  branch  of  the  tree,  and  settled 
itself  in  another  position,  where  we  left  it, 
and  hurried  home  to  look  up  our  remark- 
able bird.  It  uttered  no  sound  of  any 
kind. 


[51] 


BLUE-GREY  GNATCATCHER 

April,  1894 
(Tennessee) 

April  3,  1895 
(Georgia) 

April  26,  1896 
(Lake  Forest) 


May  5, 
(Lake  Forest) 

IN  Tennessee  when  I  saw  this  bird  I 
heard  nothing  but  the  soft  little  mew  it 
gives  as  it  flutters  around  among  the 
branches.  But  here  in  Augusta  I  have  had 
a  fine  view  of  two  of  these  tiny  birds  and 
heard  the  song  many  times.  Such  a  sweet, 
varied,  soft,  little  song,  something  like  a 
goldfinch's,  but  with  almost  as  much  vari- 
ety in  it  as  a  thrasher's.  It  seems  to  me 
the  faintest,  tiniest  little  song  and  just 
suited  to  the  size  of  the  bird. 

April,  1896.  There  are  several  of  these 
little  birds  around  our  new  house  as  it  is 
building. 

May  5,  1897.  Saw  a  pair  back  of  our 
garden. 

[52] 


GOLDFINCH 
January  14,  igoi 

SAW     and     heard     numbers     of     this 
species. 


[53] 


WILD  GOOSE 

January  4, 


1AW  a  flock  flying  south  and  have  seen 
them  at  intervals  through  December. 


54] 


BONAPARTE'S  GULL 

(Lake  Forest) 
April  28 

WHAT  a  little  beauty  this  gull  is !  His 
black  head,  pearl  grey  wings,  and 
flashing  white  under  parts  are  a  pleasure 
to  see  as  he  wheels  and  turns  over  the 
lake.  He  is  one  of  the  smaller  gulls,  and 
is  very  graceful  in  his  movements. 


[55] 


EVENING  GROSBEAK 

April  1 6,  1896 
April  26,  1896 

FLOCKS  of  a  dozen  or  fifteen  of  these 
handsome  birds  have  been  here 
(Lake  Forest)  since  the  first  of  the  month. 
They  are  so  tame  it  is  easy  to  study  them, 
and  their  call  note,  a  loud,  metallic  whis- 
tle, without  any  inflection  in  it,  proclaims 
their  presence  unfailingly.  The  note  re- 
minds me  of  one  of  the  notes  of  the  tufted 
titmouse.  The  whistle  is  accompanied  by 
a  sort  of  rattling  trill  at  intervals.  They 
seem  to  have  disappeared  now  (May  5). 
February  19,  1902.  Saw  a  flock  of  fif- 
teen, seven  males  and  eight  females  in 
Fannie  Turtle's  yard.  They  were  on  a 
bare  spot  on  the  ground  under  a  maple, 
feeding  on  the  maple  seeds,  apparently, 
and  were  so  tame  and  close  together  that 
I  had  fourteen  of  them  in  the  field  of  my 
glass  at  one  time.  The  notes  could  be 
heard  some  distance  away.  The  loud 
"peep,  peep"  reminded  me  of  a  little 
chicken's  peep,  when  it  is  very  loud,  and 
the  little  softer  rattle  sounded  like  the 
soft  rolled  R  a  chicken  gives  as  it  cuddles 

[56] 


Bird  Observations 

under  its  mother's  wing.  The  loud  "peep" 
is  more  of  a  whistle  than  a  chicken  gives, 
but  heard  at  a  distance  it  reminds  one  of 
it. 

March  j;  1902.  Saw  a  large  flock. 
Counted  fifty-two  and  some  others  escaped 
me.  There  must  have  been  sixty  or 
seventy  in  the  flock.  They  have  been  seen 
here  constantly  now  for  three  weeks. 

March  23.     Still  here. 

April  4,  1901.  Saw  and  heard  many 
this  morning.  The  rattled  note  reminded 
me  of  a  car  conductor's  whistle. 

April  /5,  1902.  Saw  two  full  colored 
males  and  a  number  of  females. 

April  n,  1 909.  Saw  several  males  and 
females.  Have  been  here  all  winter,  but 
this  was  my  first  view  of  them. 

April  18.  Still  here;  a  large  flock  in 
the  ravine  near  President  Nollen's  house. 

May  6.     Heard  several. 

May  7.  Saw  seven  grosbeaks  and 
heard  others.  Seems  remarkable  that  they 
are  still  here.  It  has  been  very  cold  up  to 
May  5,  when  it  was  86°;  May  6,  was 
over  70°. 

May  14,  1909.     Still  here. 


[57] 


ROSE-BREASTED  GROSBEAK 

Spring,  1892 
May  9,  1893 
May  3,  1894 
May  2,  1896 

THESE  birds  are  regular  in  their  com- 
ing, and  are  among  our  best  known 
birds  here,  though  they  are  never  plentiful. 
The  male  is  a  beautiful  singer,  his  sweet, 
melodious  warble  resembling  a  robin's, 
only  it  is  much  more  finished,  sweeter,  with 
a  softer  and  more  oriole-like  quality.  He 
is  one  of  our  most  constant  and  fearless 
singers  during  June.  Later  in  the  summer 
he  is  entirely  silent. 

September  iy  1895.  I  heard  one  warble 
quite  a  long  song,  and  as  sweet  in  quality 
as  his  spring  song.  I  have  heard  this  bird 
$ing  exultantly  as  he  soared  in  the  air,  after 
the  manner  of  a  bobolink.  Both  male  and 
female  throw  themselves  in  the  air  and 
turn  graceful  somersaults  in  pursuit  of  in- 
sects. The  male  utters  a  loud  chirp  which 
is  very  unmusical,  like  the  squeak  of  a 
wheel  which  needs  oiling.  The  grosbeaks 
were  very  common  here  in  the  spring  and 
summer  of  1895.  One  would  hear  six  or 

[58] 


Bird  Observations 

eight  singing  in  the  course  of  a  morning 
walk. 

May  1 5,  igoi.  Counted  eight  females 
and  three  males  on  Alcott  school  lawn. 
Miss  Burt  said  that  in  the  morning  they 
counted  thirty. 


[59 


BLACK-CROWNED  NIGHT 
HERON 

(Elmhurst) 

THERE  is  a  large  and  remarkable  col- 
ony of  these  birds  which  nests  in  the 
Bryan's  place  every  year.  They  occupy  the 
tops  of  the  evergreens  there,  and  the 
squawking  clamor  they  make,  especially 
towards  evening,  can  be  heard  over  here. 
They  fly  over  our  place  every  night  about 
sunset,  on  their  way  to  the  creek  for  fish, 
uttering  their  loud  "quauk"  as  they  go; 
their  white  breasts  gleaming  in  the  light, 
and  their  wings  "opening  and  shutting" 
with  the  regular  flight  which  most  water 
birds  have. 

June  75,  1895.  I  visited  this  heronry 
this  morning  and  found  the  remnants  of 
egg-shells  thickly  scattered  on  the  ground 
under  the  nests.  They  were  as  large  as 
hen's  eggs,  of  a  robin's  egg  blue  in  color. 


[60] 


GREEN  HERON 

MAY  9,  igoi.  One  sat  on  a  small  tree 
on  the  edge  of  our  bluffs  for  about 
five  minutes,  and  I  viewed  him  through 
our  big  glass.  He  is  a  most  curious  and 
weird  looking  bird.  His  yellow  iris  and 
voracious  looking  bill  give  him  an  uncanny 
look.  He  hunched  himself  together  and 
would  then  stretch  his  neck  up  to  an  in- 
credible height.  He  looked  much  larger 
flying  than  sitting  on  the  tree.  This  is 
the  second  one  I  have  identified  here.  I 
saw  his  legs  and  feet  very  plainly  and 
they  certainly  looked  a  bright  flesh  pink, 
not  olive  as  the  books  say. 


[61] 


INDIGO  BIRD 

July  20,  1893 
May  7,  1894 
May  4,  1896 
May  10,  1897 

May  19,  1898 

THE  blue  of  the  indigo  bunting  is  very 
different  from  that  of  the  bluebird, 
darker  and  more  metallic  looking,  but  very 
brilliant  in  the  sunshine.  The  light  colored, 
thick  bill  is  a  distinguishing  mark.  Song 
a  little  like  a  goldfinch's — sweeter,  less 
jumbled  together,  more  of  a  uset  song." 

May  I2y  1903.  Saw  four  birds  on  the 
lawn  east  of  house,  three  of  them  high 
colored,  the  other  blue  but  not  so  deep 
and  brilliant.  Close  to  them  were  two 
goldfinches  and  a  white  crowned  sparrow, 
a  beautiful  company.  All  were  eating 
dandelion  seeds. 

May  30,  1907.  Saw  one  male  and  two 
females  eating  dandelion  seeds.  What  a 
reddish  hue  the  lady  birds  have. 


[62] 


Nest  of  Indigo  Bunting 


JUNCO 

1892 
(Elmhurst) 

THE  arrival  of  these  flocks  of  slate 
colored  snow  birds  is  always  a  sign 
of  approaching  winter.  They  feed  on  the 
ground.  They  utter  frequently  a  low 
t'sip,  t'sip,  and  sometimes  the  whole  flock 
will  light  on  the  lower  branches  of  a  clump 
of  evergreens  and  keep  up  a  continuous 
low,  sweet,  twittering,  which  is  pleasant  to 
hear  at  a  season  when  there  are  so  few 
bird  notes. 

March,  1894.  I  watched  one  sitting 
quite  high  in  a  tree  who  threw  his  head 
back  and  sang  with  all  his  might.  His 
song  began  quite  like  a  canary's,  with 
some  little  runs  and  trills,  but  did  not  have 
the  variety  or  brilliancy  of  that  songster, 
as  he  soon  relapsed  into  his  customary 
sweet  twittering. 


KING  BIRD 

May  20,  1893 
(Elmhurst) 

KINGBIRDS  seem  to   fly  out  further 
in  their  flights  after  insects  than  other 
flycatchers.    Their  motions  are  very  grace- 
ful and  beautiful. 


GOLDEN-CROWNED  KINGLET 

1892 

March  26,  1893 
March  21,  1894 
December  2,  1894 
September  2Q,  1895 

(Elmhurst) 

THE  stripe  of  vivid  orange  on  the  head 
is  always  visible  and  not  sometimes 
concealed  as  in  the  ruby-crowned.  The 
note  is  exceedingly  thin,  scarcely  audible 
at  times.  It  is  not  at  all  shy  and  will  often 
allow  you  to  get  within  ten  feet  of  him. 
The  faint  squeaking  "zie"  is  usually  re- 
peated three  times. 

March,  1902.  Have  never  heard  any 
other  sound  from  them  except  this  zie- 
zie-zie. 

Marchy  1907.  Heard  a  song  I  thought 
must  be  a  warbler  song,  faint  and  uninter- 
esting in  character,  but  new.  Found  sev- 
eral gold  crests  and  one  or  two  sang  fre- 
quently. I  followed  them  for  some  time. 
Description  in  Chapman's  Handbook  ex- 
cellent. First  time  I  ever  heard  this  spe- 
cies sing. 


RUBY-CROWNED  KINGLET 

1892 

April  Q,   1893 
September  22,   1893 
September  24,   1895 

(Elmhurst) 

E  smallest  birds — these  and  the 
golden  crowned  —  in  this  part  of 
the  country  except  the  humming  birds  and 
winter  wrens.  General  coloring  and  habits 
much  like  some  warblers,  but  they  are 
smaller,  and  the  shape  is  not  so  long  and 
thin.  The  expression  of  the  eye  is  quite 
different  too,  caused  by  a  round  yellowish 
mark  around  the  eye,  while  the  warbler's 
eye  markings  are  usually  horizontal.  This 
gives  him  a  wide-eyed,  surprised  look. 
The  ruby  lifts  his  wings  constantly  in  a 
restless  way,  more  than  the  golden.  The 
ruby  spot  on  the  head  is  plainly  visible  all 
the  time  in  the  spring  in  some  individuals, 
and  is  not  concealed  at  all.  Kinglets  are 
much  hardier  than  warblers,  coming 
earlier  and  staying  later.  I  have  heard 
the  ruby  utter  a  harsh,  chattering,  scold- 
ing series  of  notes,  much  like  a  house 

[66] 


Bird  Observations 

sparrow,  and  quite  loud.  It  is  much  like 
that  of  a  winter  wren.  The  song  I  have 
heard  a  number  of  times,  a  deliciously 
sweet  fairy-like  performance. 

April  24,  1902.  Heard  three  different 
individuals  singing  this  morning.  All  had 
the  chattering  notes,  interspersed  with  a 
hurried  louder  whistle,  very  like  the 
ucher-o-kee,  cher-o-kee"  of  the  Carolina 
wren.  This  part  of  the  song  could  be 
heard  some  distance,  though  of  course  it 
was  not  as  loud  as  the  wren's. 

April  16,  1903.  Saw  a  kinglet  with  a 
gorgeous  ruby  crown,  and  supposed  a  fe- 
male must  be  near  whose  attention  he  was 
trying  to  attract,  but  I  soon  saw  another 
male,  also  showing  his  ruby  spot.  There 
was  a  little  sparring  and  then  the  one  I  had 
first  seen  flew  away,  his  whole  head  look- 
ing like  a  living  coal  of  fire. 

April  27,  1907.  Heard  five  kinglets 
singing  this  morning  as  I  walked  to  Julia 
Thompson's. 


PRAIRIE  HORNED  LARK 

Autumn,  1892 
June  28,  1893 

(Elmhurst) 

I  SEE  this  beautiful  bird  here  at  inter- 
vals through  most  of  the  year.  I  heard 
one  sing  quite  a  sweet  little  warble  from 
the  top  of  the  fence  when  the  ground  was 
covered  deep  with  snow.  They  utter  a 
number  of  notes  beside  this  warble.  They 
have  a  lonely  sounding  "peep-peep"  as 
they  fly  off  from  the  road  in  scattering 
flocks,  and  they  also  utter  some  loud  sweet 
notes,  having  a  quality  not  unlike  those  of 
the  meadow  lark,  though  fewer  in  num- 
ber. The  yellow  under  the  bill  varies 
greatly  in  different  individuals.  In  the 
birds  where  the  color  is  pale,  the  species 
is  probably  the  "Prairie"  variety,  the 
others  the  "Horned"  simply.  They  are 
not  at  all  shy,  yet  I  have  never  observed 
them  venture  within  the  confines  of  a 
village. 


[68] 


HOODED  MERGANSER 

April  28 
(Lake  Forest) 

SAW  three  in  the  lake;  they  dive  like 
loons.  The  white  back  of  the  crest 
was  most  conspicuous,  only  it  looked  yel- 
low in  the  strong  afternoon  sunlight. 
They  stay  under  water  quite  a  while,  and 
throw  themselves  down,  when  they  start 
to  dive,  with  the  utmost  vigor. 


MOCKING  BIRD 

March  21,  189$ 
(Augusta,  Ga.) 

song  is  so  like  that  of  the  brown 
thrasher,  and  yet  it  is  more  varied, 
and  seems  to  me  to  have  less  of  the  bold 
dash  of  that  bird,  and  more  sweet  melody 
in  it.  But  it  introduces  more  cat-calls  and 
uncouth  noises,  so  that  it  is  not  as  dignified 
a  performance  as  that  of  the  brown 
thrasher. 

April  1st.  On  hearing  the  song  more 
often  it  seems  less  attractive  to  me  than 
the  thrasher's,  though  more  remarkable. 


[70] 


RED-BREASTED  NUTHATCH 

September  7,  1894 
August  29  , 


I  NOTICE   a  great  deal  of  variety  in 
the   coloring  of  the   breasts   of   these 
birds.     Some  are  as  bright  a  bay  as  many 
robins,  and  others  have  only  a  pale  yel- 
lowish-red wash  over  the  white. 


[71] 


WHITE-BREASTED  NUTHATCH 

April  75,  1894 
(Tennessee) 

1HAVE  never  yet  seen  these  birds  in 
Elmhurst  ( 1895 )  •  I  wonder  why  they 
are  not  here.  The  red-breasted  I  see  every 
autumn.  I  enjoyed  my  one  and  only  sight 
of  this  bird  when  I  saw  him  in  the  Tennes- 
see woods.  He  is  too  marked  a  bird  to 
be  mistaken  for  any  other,  even  on  a  first 
acquaintance.  In  1896,  in  January,  I  saw 
these  birds  in  Lake  Forest. 

April,  1896.    They  are  abundant  here. 


[72] 


ORCHARD  ORIOLE 

June  8,  igoo 

SAW  and  heard  this  bird  today  after 
having  watched  for  him  for  nine  years 
of  bird  study.  Found  him  in  a  tree  near 
Atteridge's  rarm,  a  mature  male.  Song 
beautiful,  full,  vigorous,  rich,  finer  than 
the  Baltimore. 

May  ii,  1903.  I  have  seen  two  orioles 
in  our  grounds  for  two  days,  and  this 
morning  I  saw  three,  two  mature  males 
and  an  immature  male  of  the  second 
year,  really  a  handsomer  bird  than  the 
others  with  his  trim  olive  coat  and  jet 
black  face.  The  orchard  oriole  has  a  very 
difficult  song  to  describe,  a  full,  flowing 
warble,  interjected  with  the  characteristic 
blackbird  note  of  the  orioles  at  frequent 
intervals,  but  it  is  not  loud  enough  to  spoil 
the  beauty  of  the  song. 

May  23,  1907.  Saw  a  young  male  some 
days  ago,  in  song,  and  today  saw  an  old 
male  in  our  yard. 


[73] 


GREAT  HORNED  OWL 

A  PRIL  22,  1902.  Saw  him  in  the  ra- 
-*1  vine  back  of  the  Henry  Durand 
place  (bird  class).  What  a  big  fellow  he 
is !  And  what  remarkable  ears  or  horns ! 
A  most  weird  looking  bird.  It  is  strange 
that  in  all  my  bird  study  I  have  seen  so 
few  owls.  This  and  the  screech  owl  are 
the  only  ones  I  am  acquainted  with. 


[74] 


Great  Hortied  Owl 
(captive) 


WILSON'S  PHALAROPE 

May  28,  189$ 

MRS.  HUBBARD  and  I  spied  two  of 
these  handsome  birds  in  a  small 
pond  on  the  road  to  the  spring.  We  had 
the  most  satisfactory  study  of  them.  They 
allowed  us  to  come  within  about  fifteen 
feet  of  them,  and  we  watched  them  as  long 
as  we  wanted  to.  There  were  two  of 
them,  both  females,  possibly,  as  these  are 
described  as  the  more  brilliant  of  the  two 
sexes.  They  were  most  conspicuous, 
striking  birds,  with  their  gleaming  white 
breasts,  black  stripe  through  the  eye,  run- 
ning into  chestnut  on  the  neck  and  back, 
and  the  broad  white  stripe  on  the  back  of 
the  head  and  neck.  They  were  most  un- 
concerned about  our  presence,  and  went  on 
wading  in  the  puddle  and  feeding  in  the 
water  as  calmly  as  if  we  had  been  miles 
away.  One  bird  was  very  belligerent  to 
the  other  one  and  drove  it  away  numbers 
of  times.  There  was  another  smaller  bird 
with  these  two  beauties,  apparently  of  the 
same  family,  but  it  was  striped  with  grey 
and  brown  on  the  back,  and  plain  white 
underneath,  a  sparrowy  looking  creature. 

[75] 


Bird  Observations 

He  was  quite  unconcerned  while  the  fights 
were  going  on  between  the  other  two.  He 
tallied  exactly  with  the  description  of  the 
immature  phalarope,  but  how  could  he 
have  been  that  at  this  time  of  the  year? 
On  the  whole  I  never  had  a  finer  chance  to 
study  a  new  bird  than  I  did  this  time.  The 
phalaropes  uttered  no  sound  except  a 
plaintive  "tweet,  tweet,"  now  and  then. 


[76] 


Ypung  Phoebe  s 


PHOEBE 

1896 

A  PAIR  nested  on  our  west  gable, 
before  our  Ardleigh  house  was  fin- 
ished. 

July  6,  1901.  This  is  the  sixth  year 
phoebes  have  nested  on  the  house.  I 
wonder  if  it  is  the  same  pair.  Three  years 
under  the  roof  of  the  porch,  twice  under 
the  porch,  and  once  on  the  gable.  This 
year  they  began  nesting  May  I7th,  began 
sitting  Tune  3rd,  and  the  young  flew  July 
6th. 

April  20,  1902.  Phoebes  began  nesting 
on  the  top  of  the  porch  pillar,  their  fourth 
year  on  this  identical  spot. 

May  $rd.     Began  sitting. 

May  iyth.  One  just  hatched,  four 
other  eggs  in  nest. 

May  i8th.    All  hatched. 

June  2nd.  Five  lusty  birds  flew  out  of 
the  nest  today. 

June  i$th.  The  same  pair  (presumably) 
began  to  investigate  the  old  nest  again, 
and  on  the  iyth  I  saw  the  female  sitting. 

1910.  Phoebes  still  nesting  on  our 
house.  This  is  the  fifteenth  consecutive 
year. 

[77] 


PINE  SISKIN 

J\/TAY  20  y  igoj.  A  flock  of  sixty  birds, 
*>  VJ-  counted  through  my  glass,  and  with 
others  I  could  not  count  scattered  about, 
feeding  on  dandelion  seeds,  was  what  I 
saw  at  the  Winter  Club  this  afternoon.  A 
number  of  goldfinches  were  with  them,  but 
the  siskins  were  much  more  numerous. 
Their  notes  first  attracted  my  attention, 
a  great  deal  of  goldfinch  like  chatter,  but 
with  a  constant  burr  or  buzz  interspersed 
with  it,  that  distinguished  it  from  the 
familiar  song  of  that  bird.  I  could  get 
quite  near  the  birds,  they  seemed  unsus- 
picious, and  to  have  the  same  gentle,  con- 
fiding natures  that  the  goldfinches  have. 
How  striped  they  were !  All  over,  just 
the  yellowish  bars  on  the  wings  to  break 
the  effect.  I  wish  we  could  induce  them 
to  stay  and  eat  up  our  dandelion  seeds. 

May  14,  1909.  A  flock  in  the  Granger's 
yard.  The  burr  in  the  notes  very  notice- 
able. 


[78] 


PIPIT 

June  28  ,  1893 
May  28, 


WHEN  I  first  saw  pipits  running  along 
the  road  I  thought  they  were  shore 
larks.  Their  movements  and  size  are  so 
like  the  lark's.  But  a  nearer  view  shows 
them  to  be  very  different.  They  appear 
dappled  all  over  except  on  the  lower 
breast,  and  they  lack  the  black  markings 
around  the  head  which  the  lark  has. 


[79] 


PURPLE  FINCH 

October  iy  1895 
April,  1896 

ELMHURST  has  never  yielded  a  single 
example  of  this  bird,  as  far  as  I  have 
yet  discovered.  I  saw  my  first  specimens 
in  Lake  Forest,  John  Ferry  pointing  them 
out  to  me.  There  was  quite  a  flock  of 
them  feeding  on  the  seeds  of  the  ironwood 
trees.  They  were  all  in  sparrowy  dress, 
without  the  reddish  hue  they  acquire  later 
in  the  year.  Their  manners  resemble  those 
of  the  grosbeak,  and  they  reminded  me 
of  the  way  that  bird  twists  about  after 
food,  and  almost  crawls  over  the  branches 
like  a  parrot.  They  look  like  small  edi- 
tions of  the  female  rose-breasted.  The 
thick  bills  and  deeply  forked  tails  of  these 
finches  aid  in  identifying  them.  In  April, 
1896,  I  saw  them  again  in  Lake  Forest, 
this  time  the  males  had  their  rosy  colors. 

May,  IQOO.  Am  sure  I  heard  the  song, 
so  loud  and  melodious,  a  little  like  the 
warbling  vireo's;  did  not  see  the  bird,  but 
heard  the  song  several  times. 

April,  igoi.  Heard  the  song  numbers 
of  times  and  saw  the  birds,  later  heard 

[so] 


Bird  Observations 

them  various  times  and  saw  one  male  in 
fine  summer  plumage,  and  he  really  did 
look  very  purple  in  the  sunlight.  The 
song,  when  I  first  heard  it,  made  me  think 
of  a  warbling  vireo,  trying  to  sing  like  a 
goldfinch.  Such  a  variety  of  notes,  and 
yet  the  song  was  short.  A  few  days  later 
the  song  I  heard  was  more  flute-like, 
louder,  and  fuller — but  still  short. 

February  75,  1903.  Saw  a  flock  of 
about  fifteen  birds  in  our  grounds.  They 
were  very  silent.  The  males  had  a  dusky 
purplish  hue.  There  were  several  inches 
of  snow  on  the  ground,  and  it  was  still 
snowing. 


[81] 


CAROLINA  RAIL 

J\/fAY  8,  1905,  in  the  pond  west  of 
-*'./  Libertyville,  there  must  have  been 
many  of  them. 

May  75,  1906.  One  in  marsh  west  of 
Convent  Crossing,  Lake  Forest.  Such  a 
loud  cackle  of  alarm  as  he  gave,  but 
looked  as  tranquil  and  tame  as  possible 
while  he  paddled  about  close  to  me.  Why 
don't  the  books  speak  of  his  yellow  bill, 
and  of  the  Virginia's  red  one?  The  two 
birds  were  both  together  there.  Some  of 
their  loud  explosive  notes  make  me  think 
of  a  chat. 


[82] 


VIRGINIA  RAIL 

Jl/fAY  15,  1906.  Saw  my  first  one  in 
J-VJ-  marsh  west  of  track  at  Convent 
Crossing.  He  cack-ed  and  kuk-ed,  and 
waded  about  very  near  me.  His  bill 
looked  so  red.  No  book  speaks  of  a  red 
bill,  but  this  one  certainly  looked  so. 


[83] 


LOGGERHEAD  SHRIKE 

April  24,  1894 
May  28,  1895 

I  NEVER  see  this  shrike  here  in  num- 
bers, but  it  is  a  regular  summer  resi- 
dent, and  in  my  drives  over  the  prairies 
I  usually  see  one  or  two  individuals. 

May  28,  1895.  We  found  five  young 
shrikes,  hardly  able  to  fly,  in  a  thorn  hedge 
today.  They  were  lovely  little  fellows, 
their  plumage  as  soft  as  eiderdown,  and 
they  huddled  close  together,  three  of  them 
on  one  branch,  and  looked  as  innocent  of 
being  members  of  a  murderous  race  as  if 
they  were  turtle  doves.  We  found  the  re- 
mains of  a  small  bird,  supposably  of  a 
house  sparrow,  impaled  upon  a  thorn 
near  by  their  nest.  The  parent  birds  were 
nowhere  visible,  though  we  passed  the 
place  both  morning  and  afternoon. 


NORTHERN  SHRIKE 
March  16,  1894 

THE  plumage  of  this  bird  seems  dull 
beside  that  of  the  Loggerhead,  with 
its  clear  pearl  greys,  black  and  white, 
which  I  see  here  so  often  in  summer.  I 
have  seen  this  bird  only  once  so  far.  It 
sat  on  a  lonely  tree  by  the  roadside  and 
uttered  a  curious  low-pitched  gurgling 
noise,  unlike  any  other  note  I  ever  heard. 


[85] 


FOX  SPARROW 

SONG  varies  very  much  in  different  in- 
dividuals, always  sweet,  rich  and  me- 
lodious. 

March  24.,  1902.  Singing  in  our  grounds. 
The  song  has  a  decided  melody  and  form. 
The  first  note  single,  several  others  in 
couples,  then  something  of  a  jumble,  a 
pure  whistle.  A  quiet  repose  about  it, 
though. 

April  8,  1903.  Watched  one  sing  a  long 
time.  Such  purity,  such  delicious  sweet- 
ness of  tone !  Hardly  any  two  songs  alike, 
yet  all  about  the  same  length,  often  ending 
with  a  little  soliloquy,  as  it  were,  some- 
times a  slightly  chattered  note  or  two.  All 
the  songs  had  form,  and  had  a  large  range 
of  notes. 

March  31,  1908.  So  many  singing,  if 
one  starts  the  whole  flock  begins  to  sing. 
The  Asso.  hymn  "True  hearted,  whole 
hearted,  faithful  and  loyal,"  recalls  the 
form  if  you  accent  strongly  the  heart  both 
times  and  the  ful  in  faithful. 


[86] 


GRASSHOPPER  SPARROW 

June  21,  1895 

1HAVE  heard  the  feeble  insect-like 
trill  of  this  bird  several  times,  but  have 
never  been  able  to  identify  it  till  today. 
We  were  driving  near  Addison,  and  Edith 
Skeele  and  I  heard  the  note  and  followed 
up  the  bird.  He  flew  from  one  weed  to 
another,  singing  with  his  head  thrown 
back,  and  with  an  energy  worthy  of  a 
better  cause.  His  song  is  so  weak,  just  a 
low  trill,  without  any  of  the  strident 
qualities  of  the  chipping  sparrow.  It  can 
only  be  heard  a  very  short  distance  off.  He 
is  one  of  the  smallest  sparrows;  the  head 
showing  the  narrow  median  and  the  wider 
superciliary  stripes  very  plainly;  the  wing 
tinged  with  yellow  towards  the  front. 


HOUSE  SPARROW 

ll/TAY  29 y  1902.  A  single  pair  are  try- 
IV -L  ing  to  nest  on  Frank  F.'s  house. 
This  morning  I  was  awakened  at  4:15  by 
the  squawking  of  one  of  the  pair,  presum- 
ably the  male.  After  listening  to  its 
monotonous  chirping  for  ten  minutes  I  was 
impressed  with  the  number  of  times  it  re- 
peated its  note,  and  at  what  regular  inter- 
vals it  was  uttered.  I  began  to  count  the 
squawks,  and  counted  one  thousand  one 
hundred  twenty-seven  of  them  with 
scarcely  a  variation  in  time  or  tone.  Then 
it  stopped  for  two  or  three  minutes,  began 
again,  and  this  time  I  counted  three  hun- 
dred sixty  chirps,  when  I  grew  tired  of 
counting  and  went  to  sleep.  At  6  130  when 
I  awakened,  the  same  bird  was  holding 
forth. 


[88] 


LARK  SPARROW 

June  25,  1897 

SAW  four  or  five  of  these  birds  in  a  field 
about  six  miles  west  of  Lake  Forest. 
They  were  singing  when  I  first  noticed 
them,  a  sweet  song,  something  between  a 
goldfinch  and  a  vesper  sparrow.  Their 
marked  -heads  and  white  bordered  tails 
(the  latter  almost  as  conspicuous  as  a 
mourning  dove's)  make  them  easy  to 
identify.  They  were  very  unsuspicious. 

June  28,  1897.     Saw  three  more  near 
Lake  Forest. 


[89] 


SAVANNAH  SPARROW 

Jl/fAY  8,  1901.  Saw  two  sparrows 
2rJ,  which  I  took  to  be  this  species,  but 
am  not  quite  positive.  Song,  a  faint  whirr, 
but  too  little  of  it  to  tell.  The  yellow  in 
front  of  eye  most  marked,  but  one  of  the 
birds  certainly  seemed  to  have  a  spot  on 
the  breast  like  a  song  sparrow.  (No  such 
mark  in  the  books.)  Its  breast  was  quite 
striped. 


[90] 


SWAMP  SPARROW 

]\/fdY  I,  1903.  First  view  of  this  bird 
•IV-l  after  all  these  years  of  bird  study. 
He  was  in  a  swampy  place  west  of  the  Wai- 
den  gate.  How  he  did  flirt  his  tail  and  bob 
about!  As  active  as  a  wren  or  a  water 
thrush,  indeed  the  tilting  of  his  tail  was 
very  much  like  the  latter  bird.  Then  he 
would  drop  down  into  the  grass  and  run 
through  it  like  a  mouse.  He  is  smaller 
and  more  conspicuously  striped  than  most 
of  the  plain  sparrows,  and  the  chestnut 
on  head  and  wings  is  very  striking.  I 
heard  no  song,  only  a  small  weak  chirp. 

May  6,  1904.  In  our  garden,  a  single 
bird,  so  restless  and  active.  On  first  seeing 
it  flit  in  and  out  of  the  bushes  before  I  saw 
the  colors,  I  thought  it  was  a  warbler. 
This  bird  chirped  continually,  not  such  a 
very  weak  chirp. 

April  24,  1905.  In  our  garden  again, 
two  of  them,  chirping  constantly,  quite 
loudly.  Such  restless,  active  birds,  and  so 
pretty.  There  were  decided  streaks  on  this 
bird's  breast,  not  dark,  very  light,  but 
plainly  visible. 

April  29 ,  7906.  Close  to  our  front  door 
in  the  bushes — tilting  his  tail  as  usual. 

[90 


Bird  Observations 

Colors  so  bright  and  rufous,  such  a  chest- 
nut crown.  A  pretty  fellow  indeed.  Ran 
like  a  mouse  between  bushes,  and  was  very 
active,  but  not  as  shy  as  some  I've  seen. 


[92] 


TREE  SPARROW 

March  15,  1894 
(Elmhurst) 

MY  first  sight  of  this  bird  was  as  I  was 
walking  along  the  village  road  one 
windy  morning.  I  knew  him  at  once,  he 
was  so  like  the  chippy,  only  he  seemed 
warmer  colored,  and  a  little  lighter.  The 
reddish  cap  was  very  marked.  He  is  a 
trim,  aristocratic  looking  bird,  much  more 
so  than  the  chippy,  I  think. 

March  i6y  1894.  Saw  a  large  flock, 
they  sang  a  great  deal,  a  very  sweet  song, 
but  somewhat  thin,  quite  varied,  something 
of  the  goldfinch  quality.  They  trill  like  a 
canary. 

November  4.  Saw  spot  on  breast  and 
two  white  wing  bars,  very  distinct. 


[93] 


WHITE-CROWNED  SPARROW 

April  17,   1894 

(Tennessee) 
May     9,   1896 
May     5,   1897 
May   19,   1898 

I  HEARD  this  species  sing  for  the  first 
time  this  morning,  May  7,  1900.  Again 
May  9th  saw  a  flock  and  many  of  them 
in  song.  A  very  sweet,  rather  plaintive 
song,  opening  with  a  few  notes  in  quality 
like  the  vesper  sparrows,  but  in  form  a 
little  like  the  meadow  lark's,  and  ending 
with  a  few  hoarse  notes. 

May  8,  1901.  Saw  seven  birds  on  one 
small  tree,  nearly  all  sang.  Quite  a  va- 
riety in  their  songs  as  to  the  pitch  of  the 
notes,  but  all  had  the  clear  meadowlark 
whistles  first,  and  then  the  lower,  harsher 
notes.  A  peculiar  and  distinctive  song. 

May  16,  1901.  Waked  up  at  5  a.  m. 
by  an  unfamiliar  song.  A  clear,  sweet 
whistle,  just  like  this: 


[94] 


Bird  Observations 

No   husky   trill    after   it,   yet   I   think   it 
must  have  been  the  white  crown. 

May  1 8.  Several  here  still,  and  singing, 
the  song  as  when  I  first  heard  it,  not  the 
whistle. 


[95] 


ROUGH-WINGED  SWALLOW 

April  20,  1895 
(Washington) 

1SAW  numbers  of  these  birds  out  in  the 
park,  and  watched  some  of  them  fly 
in  and  out  of  a  nest  hole  in  a  high  rocky 
bank.  They  are  without  the  grey  band 
across  the  breast  which  the  bank  swallow 
has,  and  are  much  the  soberest  of  the  fam- 
ily. They  look  so  much  shorter  than  the 
barn  swallow,  and  gleam  white  and  then 
brown  as  they  fly  in  the  sunlight. 


[96] 


SCARLET  TANAGER 

May  10,  1893 
May  9,  1894 
May  4,  1896 
May  8,  1897 

I  HAVE  known  the  male  of  this  species 
ever  since  I  was  a  child,  but  have  never 
known  its  song  till  May,  1894.  Its  warble 
is  like  the  robin's,  but  louder,  more 
solemn,  without  the  cheerful,  everyday 
quality  of  the  latter's  song.  It  intersperses 
its  song  at  times  with  its  call  of  "chip- 
chirr,"  which  is  such  a  marked  and  char- 
acteristic note. 


[97] 


SUMMER  TANAGER 

April  9,  1895 
(Georgia) 

I  WAS  walking  home  to  the  Bon  Air 
today,  and  my  attention  was  attracted 
by  a  curious  clicking  noise  in  a  tree  near  by. 
It  sounded  like  a  chisel  slipping  on  stone, 
not  in  the  least  like  a  whistle,  or  the  trilling 
or  warbling  of  most  birds.  I  looked  up 
and  there  was  the  summer  tanager  on  a 
branch  not  far  off.  He  is  so  handsome 
with  his  bright  red  plumage,  though  he 
does  not  look  such  a  vivid  scarlet  as  our 
tanager.  He  is  smaller,  too.  He  did  not 
seem  at  all  shy,  and  I  had  a  fine  chance 
of  observing  him.  He  uttered  his  clicking 
notes  at  intervals  while  he  hunted  about 
the  tree  for  insects.  They  sounded  like 
"kick-up,"  "kick-up"  to  me,  and  sometimes 
"kick-a-poo,"  the  first  notes  higher  than 
the  others.  They  were  not  very  loud. 

April  ii  y  i8Q$.  Heard  and  saw  him 
again  today.  This  time  he  ran  six  or 
seven  notes  rapidly  together,  each  with 
the  sharp  "click"  to  it. 

A-pril  1 3th.    Heard  a  tanager  sing  this 

[98] 


Bird  Observations 

morning.  I  heard  this  song  like  a  robin 
at  a  distance  and  was  sure  it  must  be  the 
tanager,  and  sure  enough  there  was  his 
red  coat  among  the  branches.  I  do  not 
recall  any  other  bird  who  sings  so  much 
like  a  robin  as  he  does.  The  cadence  and 
inflection  of  the  warble  seem  almost 
identical  with  that  of  the  robin,  yet  the 
quality  is  different,  and  has  something  of 
the  scarlet  tanager's  individuality  in  it.  I 
found,  too,  that  the  song  is  more  broken 
than  the  robin's,  being  repeated  at  inter- 
vals, instead  of  being  an  uninterrupted 
strain. 

April  1 6th.  This  tanager  utters  some- 
times a  curious  squawking  note  very  like  a 
woodpecker.  It  is  loud,  and  uttered  at  in- 
tervals from  the  top  of  some  tall  tree,  so 
that  until  I  discovered  the  small  red  object 
sitting  up  in  a  high  pine  and  watched  his 
bill  open  and  shut  I  would  not  believe  that 
there  was  not  some  new  and  large  species 
of  woodpecker  up  there. 


[99] 


GREEN-WING  TEAL 

May  27,  i8g$ 

THE  only  wild  duck  I  have  ever  seen 
around  here,  except  the  flocks  one 
sees  flying  through  the  sky  in  the  spring 
and  fall.  This  solitary  individual  was 
in  a  marsh  on  the  road  to  the  spring. 
His  chestnut  head  and  neck,  light  back  and 
breast,  and  the  white  crescent  on  his  side 
just  ahead  of  the  wing,  were  his  striking 
marks. 


GREY-CHEEKED  THRUSH 

May  I2y  1896 

THE  absence  of  the  yellow  eye  ring 
is  the  only  way  to  distinguish  this 
thrush  from  the  olive-backed.  It  sings  a 
low,  sighing  sort  of  a  song,  here,  not  its 
full  song. 

May  12,  1896.  I  heard  and  saw  one 
sing  in  this  way.  I  have  always  thought 
these  faint  breathed  notes,  which  I  have 
heard  so  often  issuing  from  the  depths  of 
some  evergreen  tree,  came  from  the  veery, 
but  was  undeceived  today.  It  is  a  peculiar 
song,  unlike  any  other,  as  if  wet  rubber 
were  rubbed  together;  it  rises  a  little  and 
dies  away,  rises  and  dies  away,  in  a  sort 
of  cadence — all  as  if  it  were  singing  under 
its  breath. 

May  loth.  I  saw  a  thrush  which  seemed 
to  be  the  grey  cheeked  and  which  sang  in 
the  same  way,  but  this  and  the  occurrence 
of  1896  as  noted  above  are  doubtless  cases 
of  mistaken  identity.  No  doubt  both  birds 
were  veeries,  which  goes  to  prove  that 
that  bird  varies  a  good  deal  as  to  his  color- 
ing, and  is  by  no  means  always  so  tawny. 

[101] 


HERMIT  THRUSH 

Spring,  1892 
April  3,  1893 
October  n}  1893 
March  22 ,  1894 

VERY  plentiful  here  during  spring  mi- 
gration, apparently  not  so  much  so 
in  fall,  and  more  shy  in  latter  season.  The 
olive  head  and  back  and  decidedly  rufous 
tail  make  it  easy  to  distinguish  from  other 
thrushes. 

April  17,  1912.  Was  awakened  at  5 
a.  m.  by  this  thrush  singing  in  a  tree  close 
to  my  window.  Sang  clearly  about  this 
number  of  notes: 


,,JJ 


I  have  often  heard  the  bird  in  S.  W.  Har- 
bor, Me.  This  song  was  an  unmistakable 
thrush  song.  It  could  not  have  been  any- 
thing but  the  Hermit  at  so  early  a  date.  I 
did  not  see  the  bird,  however,  being  ill  in 
bed.  I  have  not  heard  of  its  singing  dur- 
ing migration  in  this  locality  before, 
neither  had  Mr.  B.  T.  Gault,  of  Glen 

C  102  ] 


Bird  Observations 

Ellyn,  to  whom  I  wrote.  But  he  feels,  as 
I  do,  that  I  have  made  no  mistake  in  being 
sure  that  it  is  a  Hermit. 


[103] 


OLIVE-BACKED  THRUSH 

April,  1893 
April  28,  1894 
August  30,  1894 

THESE  thrushes  are  here  in  great 
numbers  the  first  part  of  May,  one 
of  the  commonest  birds  in  the  spring  mi- 
grations. They  come  around  the  house 
constantly,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  there 
is  almost  no  cover  for  them.  I  have 
studied  them  with  great  care,  but  find  it 
difficult  to  be  certain  whether  there  are 
any  gray-cheeked  thrushes  among  them. 
The  orbital  ring  does  not  seem  very  dis- 
tinct in  many  of  them,  and  yet  they  all 
have  some,  which  the  gray  cheeks  are  not 
supposed  to  have  at  all.  They  utter  a 
loud  snapping  chirp  when  alarmed.  I 
heard  one  singing  a  twittering  song  softly 
to  himself  once,  the  way  the  tawny  thrush 
does. 


[104] 


TAWNY  THRUSH 

(Feery) 

May  19,  1893 
May  ii,  1895 
May  1 6,  1896 

THE  first  acquaintance  I  had  with  this 
thrush  was  in  White  Birch.  It  was 
singing  softly  to  itself,  in  a  twittering  sort 
of  way.  I  did  not  see  it  that  day,  but  Mrs. 
Hubbard,  who  was  with  me,  told  me  it 
was  the  Wilson's  thrush.*  Afterwards 
I  saw  the  bird  under  an  evergreen  in  our 
yard  at  Wheaton. 

May  ii,  1895.  I  had  a  fine  study  of  the 
veery  in  White  Birch.  The  bird  hopped 
about  on  the  road  not  ten  feet  from  us, 
and  stayed  there  as  long  as  Edith  Skeele 
and  I  wanted  to  look  at  it.  It  is  so  much 
more  delicately  colored  than  any  of  the 
other  thrushes — the  back  and  tail  a  light 
fulvous  brown,  the  throat  without  spots, 
and  the  spots  on  the  breast  very  faint.  The 
markings  about  the  eye  and  down  from 
the  bill  are  also  exceedingly  faint,  not  dark 
as  in  the  olive-back  and  Hermit.  The 
upper  breast  has  a  wash  of  decidedly 

*  See  grey-cheeked  thrush. 

[105] 


Bird  Observations 

tawny  color  across  it,  changing  to  whitish 
lower  down  on  the  breast.  The  veery  is 
never  as  abundant  here  as  the  other 
thrushes. 

May  i6y  1896.  I  heard  a  veery  give  a 
loud,  curious,  whistle  this  afternoon/then 
a  whining  "whee-oo"  several  times,  quite 
a  different  sound  from  any  other  note  I 
ever  heard  from  a  thrush. 

May  ii,  1897.  I  found  two  veeries 
this  a.  m.,  both  very  easy  to  approach. 
They  seem  less  shy  than  other  thrushes. 
One  had  almost  no  perceptible  spots  on  his 
breast,  in  the  other  they  were  quite  dis- 
tinct. Both  uttered  the  peculiar  complain, 
ing  call.  One  made  a  series  of  odd 
whining  clucks,  then  changed  the  key  sud- 
denly to  a  low  one,  and  then  changed 
again,  so  that  he  had  quite  a  variety,  and 
confused  me  at  first  as  to  what  bird  it 
could  be. 

June  26,  IQII.  Heard  a  veery  near 
Stone  Gate.  Nearly  every  summer  a  pair 
nests  in  the  woods  west  of  our  house.  I 
have  never  found  the  nest,  but  I  have 
heard  them  singing  or  giving  their  peculiar 
whining  calls  all  through  June  and  July. 


[106] 


TUFTED  TITMOUSE 

March  20,  1895 
(Augusta,  Ga.) 

THE  notes  of  this  bird  resemble  so 
closely  those  of  the  chickadee  that  at 
first  one  cannot  tell  them  apart.  In  ap- 
pearance it  bears  a  general  resemblance  to 
the  cedar  bird,  but  is  smaller  and  less  ex- 
quisitely colored.  The  titmouse  has  a  clear 
whistle  consisting  of  three,  sometimes 
four,  notes  all  on  exactly  the  same  key,  and 
without  inflection  or  variation,  a  simple, 
plain  whistle,  unlike  the  cardinal's  in  this. 
It  also  has  a  more  common  note,  a  whis- 
tle of  two  quickly  repeated  notes,  the  sec- 
ond note  about  four  notes  higher  than  the 
first;  the  two  are  generally  given  four  or 
five  times  in  quick  succession.  All  the  tit- 
mouse's notes  seem  to  me  to  lack  melody, 
and  the  pathos  which  is  as  characteristic 
of  the  chickadee's  whistle.  They  are  emi- 
nently prosaic.  The  notes  always  remind 
me  of  a  penny  whistle. 

April  nth,  Georgia.  One  feels  as  if 
there  was  always  more  to  learn  about  the 
titmouse's  notes.  This  morning  I  heard 


Bird  Observations 

two  or  three  notes  squeaked  out  like  a 
wheel  of  a  barrow,  and  found  it  to  be  this 
versatile  bird. 


[108] 


TOWHEE  BUNTING 

Ji/TARCH  ii ,  1904.  I  saw  one  bird, 
Ir 2  and  on  the  I2th  I  saw  two  males 
over  near  the  Stone  Gate,  and  another 
when  I  reached  home,  presumably  three 
birds — remarkably  early  migration. 


[  109] 


PHILADELPHIA  VIREO 

1894 

April  $,  1895 

(Georgia) 

C  MALLER  than  the  other  vireos,  except 
^  the  white-eyed,  or  perhaps  the  war- 
bling, this  bird  looks  more  like  the  latter, 
except  that  it  is  yellower.  The  breast, 
especially,  is  perceptibly  washed  with  yel- 
low on  the  sides.  The  song  I  have  had 
a  fine  opportunity  of  hearing  here  in 
Georgia.  It  is  quite  unlike  the  other  vireos, 
has  more  snap  to  it,  beginning  with  a 
sharp  "whit-tee,"  followed  by  some  war- 
bled notes.  This  is  repeated  several 
times  at  quite  short  intervals,  and  then  a 
new  refrain  is  taken  up.  Altogether  the 
song  lacks  the  monotony  of  the  red-eye's 
entirely.  Sometimes  it  begins  with  "whit- 
whit-whit"  before  the  warble,  each  note 
sharp,  and  with  the  snapping  quality  of 
some  of  the  white-eye's  notes. 


[no] 


SOLITARY  VIREO 

J\/fAY  18,  1901.  Saw  the  second  I  have 
1 VI  seen  this  spring.  I  rarely  see  more 
than  one  or  two  in  a  season  and  have  never 
heard  them  sing.  I  think  this  is  the  most 
beautiful  of  all  the  vireos. 


WARBLING  VIREO 

June  12,  1893 
May  g,  1894 
May,  189$ 
May  12,  1896 

A  GREYER  and  slightly  smaller  bird 
than  the  red-eyed  vireo.  I  first  saw 
this  bird  sitting  on  its  nest  in  a  cottonwood 
tree,  warbling  sweetly  as  it  sat  there  (the 
males  sit  as  well  as  the  females) .  In  1 893. 
The  birds  do  not  seem  abundant  around 
here.  I  have  observed  perhaps  half  a 
dozen  this  summer. 

June  21,  1895.  Edith  and  I  saw  another 
nest  today,  this  time  in  an  apple  orchard. 
The  bird  was  plainly  visible  sitting  on  it. 
The  nest  looked  as  if  it  had  cotton  on  the 
outside.  The  song  of  these  vireos  is  a 
lovely,  smooth,  flowing  warble,  meander- 
ing in  rhythm  something  as  the  grosbeak's 
is.  It  is  one  of  my  favorite  bird  songs. 
It  is  soft  and  dreamy,  quite  unlike  the 
energetic  notes  of  the  red-eye. 


WHITE-EYED  VIREO 

April  iy  1895 
(Georgia) 

THIS  vireo  is  the  last  one  of  the  vireos 
(except  Bell's)  which  I  have  learned 
to  know.  I  have  seen  and  heard  sing,  two 
of  them  this  morning,  and  certainly  they 
are  the  most  extraordinary  of  the  family 
as  far  as  song  goes.  It  is  a  curious  sput- 
tering performance,  resembling  that  of  the 
catbird,  "only  more  so."  This  is  the  clown 
vireo,  surely,  and  April  ist  is  an  ap- 
propriate day  to  become  acquainted  with 
them.  This  species  is  as  small  as  the  war- 
bling vireo. 


YELLOW-THROATED  VIREO 

1894 

April  5,  1895 

(Georgia) 
May,  1895 
May  4,  1896 
May  8,  1897 
May  12,  1898 

found  this  vireo  nesting  on  the 
road  to  the  spring,  the  male  and 
female  alternating  in  sitting  on  the  eggs. 
Edith  Skeele  and  I  watched  them  for  an 
hour,  and  it  was  very  interesting  to  see  one 
slip  silently  off  the  nest  as  the  other  came 
up.  The  coloring  of  this  bird  is  very 
beautiful.  The  song  is  shorter  than  that 
of  the  red-eyed,  deeper  in  tone,  and  not 
quite  so  varied  and  flexible,  but  it  is  richer 
in  quality,  and  louder.  In  general  char- 
acter, however,  it  resembles  the  red-eye's 
song  more  than  that  of  any  other  vireo. 
(I  have  not  yet  heard  the  solitary  sing.) 
But  I  think  it  is,  if  anything,  more  deliber- 
ate and  repeated  at  longer  intervals.  I 
have  only  observed  one  pair  of  these  birds 
in  Elmhurst,  but  in  Georgia  I  have  had 
ample  opportunity  to  study  them.  Every 


-Bird  Observations 

morning  I  hear  one  singing  among  the 
oaks  in  front  of  the  hotel,  and  it  keeps 
it  up  for  hours  at  a  time. 


BAY-BREASTED  WARBLER 

May  10,  1894 
May,  1895 
May  29,  1897 

THERE  is  no  mistaking  this  handsome 
warbler  with  his  unusual  coloring  of 
rich  bay,  cream  and  cinnamon.  There  is 
no  other  warbler  in  the  least  like  it. 

May  24,  1894.  Heard  them  sing  their 
monotonous,  saw-filing  note,  one  of  the 
poorest  and  weakest  of  the  warbler  songs. 

May  18,  1901.  Saw  several  in  the  "chat 
woods."  No  song.  They  were  uncom- 
monly thick  for  bay-breasteds,  which  are 
usually  a  rare  bird  here  in  Lake  Forest. 
Mrs.  Hubbard  and  I  must  have  seen  at 
least  four,  probably  more. 


[116] 


BLACK  AND  WHITE  CREEPER 

1892 

August  30,  1894 

August  25,  1895 

NO  matter  what  other  members  of  the 
warbler  family  fail  to  appear  in 
the  spring  this  one  is  always  on  hand.  I 
suppose  one  reason  one  always  sees  him  is 
that  he  is  not  at  all  shy,  but  allows  a  very 
near  approach.  I  saw  this  bird  in  Ten- 
nessee and  in  Georgia  when  I  was  there, 
and  in  both  places  heard  the  thin,  wiry 
song,  a  small,  saw-filing  sound,  with  the 
harshness  taken  out — one  of  the  thinnest 
of  bird  notes. 


BLACKBURNIAN  WARBLER 

May  6,  1894 
May  7,  1895 
May  6,  1896 
May  14,  1897 

THE  Blackburnian  does  not  seem  at  all 
shy  in  spite  of  his  flaming  throat  and 
black  and  white  stripes  which  make  him  so 
conspicuous.  The  song  is  not  unusual,  a 
little  husky,  and  about  the  usual  warbler 
length.  I  heard  one  May  24,  1894,  which 
was  a  fine  singer — for  his  kind — a  jumbled 
succession  of  notes  changing  to  another 
jumble  four  notes  higher,  rather  longer 
than  usual. 

May  12,  1894.  Saw  several  of  these 
birds  together  today. 

May  8,  1896.  One  sang  a  jumbled  suc- 
cession of  notes,  about  the  usual  warbler 
length,  ascending  in  key,  ending  in  an  alter- 
nated, very  high  squeak. 

May  12,  1896.  Heard  one  sing  just  this 
way  again. 

May  i8x  1901.  Saw  five  males  and 
three  females  over  in  the  uchat  woods," 
and  there  must  have  been  many  more; 
none  were  singing. 

[118] 


Bird  Observations 

May  17,  1902.  Knew  the  song  when  I 
heard  it  today,  a  rising  squawk  at  the  end. 
Not  a  musical  song. 

May  7,  1905.  The  squeak  at  the  end 
gets  very  attenuated  and  fine,  and  very 
high  pitched.  First  part  of  song  sounded 
very  like  redstart's. 


BLACK-POLL  WARBLER 

May  28,  1893 
May  12,  1894 
May  7,  1895 
May  8,  1896 

1  NEVER  like  to  see  this  bird  appear 
because  it  means  that  the  "warbler 
season"  is  nearly  over,  as  it  is  usually 
about  the  last  to  come.  This  bird,  though 
striped  with  black  and  white,  as  the  black 
and  white  creeper  is,  is  far  less  beautiful. 
The  song  is  a  little  like  the  creeper's,  but 
is  more  hesitating,  and  lacks  the  ease  of 
the  creeper's  song.  It  is  "saw-filing," 
though,  and  unmusical.  It  sometimes  sings 
so  low  that  it  might  be  mistaken  for  an 
insect,  but  at  other  times  it  is  quite  loud, 
though  never  heard  at  much  of  a  distance. 
May,  1894.  A  closer  analysis  of  the 
song  gives  it  did-did-did,  hesitating,  un- 
musical, staccato,  not  a  "saw-filing"  in  time 
(that  is,  one  note  does  not  follow  another 
as  part  of  it,  as  in  the  song  of  the  creeper 
and  the  bay-breasted;  each  note  is  sepa- 
rate). 

May  14,  1904.    Seen  against  the  grass 
what  a  brilliant  bird  a  spring  male  is ! 

C  120] 


BLACK-THROATED  BLUE 
WARBLER 

1892 

September  20,  1893 
May  5,  1894 
May  7,  1895 
September  22,  1895 
May  n, 


plumage  of  all  the  warblers  is 
A  smooth  and  beautiful,  but  that  of  this 
bird  particularly  so.  It  is  the  darkest  of 
all  the  family.  The  female,  though  green, 
can  easily  be  identified  by  the  fleck  of  clear 
white  on  the  wings.  Its  chirp  is  an  ex- 
tremely fine  thin  squeak.  The  song  is  low, 
hoarse,  and  without  the  vibrating  quality. 
I  never  see  this  bird  in  flocks,  as  the  Yel- 
low, Palm  and  Pine  Warblers  come  some- 
times, but  in  small  numbers  it  is  a  very 
regular  visitant. 

May  II,  1894.  The  song  is  certainly 
like  the  opening  notes  of  the  black 
throated  green's  in  quality. 

May  18,  1901.  I  like  his  queer,  coarse 
little  song.  It  is  usually  three  or  four 
notes  long.  He  is  such  a  fearless  fellow. 
He  seems  to  prefer  to  work  towards  you 
rather  than  away  from  you  in  his  tree 
peregrinations. 

[121] 


BLACK-THROATED  GREEN 
WARBLER 

May  10,  1893 
September  22 f  1893 
May  3,  1894 
September  6y  1894 
September  /,  1895 
May  4,  1896 
May  8,  1897 

T  SOMETIMES  think  this  bird  is  hand- 
A  somer  than  the  Blackburnian,  even,  he 
is  such  a  beauty,  with  his  yellow  sided 
head,  green  back  and  jet  black  V  on  his 
throat.  In  autumn  this  last  is  obscure  or 
wanting,  but  the  black  stripes  on  side  of 
breast  are  always  plainly  visible.  The 
song  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  all  the 
warblers,  more  of  a  melody  or  tune  in  it, 
and  with  a  sweetly  deliberate  quality  in  it. 
It  has  a  lovely  quaver  in  the  middle  notes, 
higher  than  the  first  and  last.  It  is  such  a 
satisfaction  to  be  able  to  identify  this  bird 
so  unfailingly  in  the  autumn,  when  so  many 
of  the  family  are  so  puzzling. 


[  122  ] 


CANADA  WARBLER 

May  19,  1893 
May  15,  1894 
August  30,  1894 
May  i89  1896 
May  20,  1898 

NEVER  a  common  bird  here.  It  is  one 
of  the  many  dark-backed,  yellow- 
breasted  warblers  but  the  back  is  bluish 
instead  of  the  usual  olive,  and  the  crescent 
of  spots  on  the  breast  differs  from  the  cus- 
tomary stripes  of  many  of  the  warblers. 

May,  1896.  Heard  its  song,  loud,  jum- 
bled, slightly  resembling  the  indigo  bird's; 
varies  a  good  deal,  often  begins  with  a 
little  whirr  or  snap. 

May  31,  1901.  One  has  been  singing 
at  intervals  all  day  here  in  our  grounds.  A 
bright,  sweet  little  song,  something  of  the 
red-eyed  vireo's  flexibility  in  it.  He  seems 
to  me  to  say  "t'le'we,  t'lee  we,  t'le'we, 
t'lee  we,  t'l'it  wit,"  but  it  is  a  difficult  song 
to  put  into  syllables.  It  has  a  more  liquid 
and  a  more  uncertain  sound  than  the  busi- 
nesslike red-start's. 

May  22,  1903.  Has  been  singing  for 
three  or  four  days  around  the  house. 

[  123  ] 


Bird  Observations 

There  have  been  several  here  today.  Song 
as  above  described,  varies  a  good  deal  in 
loudness,  is  sometimes  not  loud  at  all. 

May  14,  1904.  Two  flitted  close  to  me 
on  our  lawn  for  a  long  time.  They  usually 
appear  singly,  these  birds,  but  this  time 
these  two  males  stayed  together  for  an 
hour  or  two. 

May  i8y  1906.  Several  have  been  here 
for  several  days.  At  a  distance  one  bird  I 
heard  certainly  did  sound  a  little  like  an 
indigo  bird,  but  more  liquid  and  less  cer- 
tain in  form.  He  began  often  with  "chip- 
chip,"  twice  or  thrice  repeated,  and  he 
often  continued  his  song  quite  as  long  as 
the  indigo  does— it  went  on  and  on,  as  it 
were. 

May  24,  1908.  One  sang  at  frequent 
intervals  all  day  yesterday  and  today.  Did 
not  begin  with  a  whirr  or  snap  once;  not 
as  loud  or  bright  or  long  as  some  indi- 
viduals I  have  heard;  uncertain  quality 
very  apparent,  wavering,  varied,  no  def- 
inite "form."  Bird  seemed  very  shy. 

June  5.  Two  singing  in  my  yard  today, 
one  been  singing  constantly  for  many 
days.  They  always  stay  here  some  time 
in  migration. 

[124] 


CAPE  MAY  WARBLER 

May  18,  1893 
May  12,  1894 
May  7,  1895 
May  12,  1896 
May  20,  1898 

T^\IFFERENT  individuals  vary  very 
•L'  much,  I  find,  in  the  brilliancy  of  the 
coloring.  The  brighter  ones  are  beauties, 
The  orange-yellow  neck  and  side  of  head 
give  it  the  appearance  of  a  yellow-headed 
bird,  almost  as  much  as  the  black-throated 
green  warbler.  The  chestnut  ear  patches 
are  almost  lacking  in  many  specimens. 
They  seem  to  prefer  orchards;  they  are 
very  plentiful  at  times.  Song  not  remark- 
able, a  thin  but  rather  sweet  squeak,  re- 
peated several  times. 

May,  1897.  The  song  impresses  me  as 
one  of  the  thinnest  and  least  musical  of  the 
warbler  songs. 

May  7,  1905.  What  a  study  of  one 
today,  in  the  Joseph  Durand  ravine,  just 
below  us  on  a  bare,  small  tree,  a  few  feet 
away,  as  long  as  we  wanted  to  watch  him ! 
He  ran  his  bill  industriously  and  faithfully 
up  and  down  the  twigs,  eating  bark  lice 


Bird  Observations 

eggs;  they  could  not  have  been  insects.  He 
kept  at  this  as  long  as  we  watched  him, 
ten  or  fifteen  minutes. 

May  27,  1907.  Many  Cape  Mays,  male 
and  female,  have  been  in  our  yard  since 
May  1 4th.  This  cold,  backward  spring 
prevents  their  going  north.  They  seem  to 
be  a  rather  pugnacious  bird,  and  are  ex- 
tremely lively,  darting  out  at  other  birds 
and  driving  them  off.  They  have  been 
feeding  in  the  barberry  blossoms,  and 
along  the  branches.  They  have  a  thin, 
sharp  chirp,  like  the  click  of  two  pebbles 
struck  together,  quite  characteristic. 

May  IQ,  1908.  Cape  May's  have  been 
thicker  than  Fve  ever  seen  them  this  year. 
It's  been  cool  and  very  wet,  and  a  poor 
year  for  most  warblers,  but  they  seem  to 
thrive.  The  females  are  abundant  today, 
such  dusky,  striped  birds.  They  feed  so 
much  on  insects  (supposedly)  in  the  cen- 
ters of  the  barberry  blossoms  and  reach 
away  out  on  the  ends  of  the  branches  to 
get  them. 


CERULEAN  WARBLER 

May  5,  i8g6 
May  8,  1897 
May  1 6,  1898 

I  WAS  attracted  to  these  birds  by  their 
marked  song.  Several  were  singing  in 
the  tops  of  the  trees  in  our  place  where 
our  new  house  is  building.  The  song  is 
four  repeated  notes,  then  four  more  a  lit- 
tle higher  in  key,  ending  with  a  sort  of 
burr-r-r.  It  has  something  of  the  quality 
of  the  black-throated  blue's  song.  They 
all  seemed  to  sing  just  alike,  a  quick,  de- 
cisive song.  The  collar  of  grey  blue  across 
the  throat  is  plainly  visible  on  the  white 
under  parts  (and  the  under  parts  are  about 
all  one  sees  of  these  dwellers  in  the  tree 
tops). 

May  6th.  Heard  them  again — the 
four  notes  repeated  first  are  all  on  one 
key — the  last  ones  a  quick,  upward,  chro- 
matic run — ending  in  the  burr-r-r. 

May  i6th.     Still  here,  incessant  singers. 

June  i8th.  Still  here.  They  must  be 
resting  here,  it  is  so  late.  Heard  numbers 
of  them,  and  saw  one  on  a  comparatively 
low  tree,  the  first  good  view  I  have  yet 

[127] 


Bird  Observations 

had.  They  were  singing  constantly  and  I 
find  they  vary  the  song  a  good  deal.  Some- 
times it  is  shorter,  and  only  two  notes  at 
first,  but  it  always  has  that  upward  run, 
and  that  sweet  whirring  sound,  like  a  lit- 
tle wheel.  It  is  unlike  any  other  warbler 
song,  I  think. 

May  24,  1905.  Heard  one  sing  a  song 
very  like  the  red-start's  "shree-shree- 
shree"  in  form,  but  the  voice  was  the  soft, 
husky,  wheeling  song  of  the  cerulean.  He 
sang  many  times  and  never  had  the  up- 
ward run  once. 

May  21,  1908.  Watched  one  sing  for 
half  an  hour,  song  like  the  one  of  May 
24,  1905.  No  upward  run.  This  bird 
came  very  near  and  moderately  low,  yet 
the  blue  never  looked  bright,  always  dull 
and  greyish.  I  wonder  if  the  individual 
males  differ  much  in  brightness  of  color, 
for  it  seems  as  if  the  dulness  of  some 
birds  was  not  only  because  I  did  not  see 
them  in  a  good  light. 


CHESTNUT-SIDED  WARBLER 

Jl/TAY  i8y  i go i.  Saw  a  female — never 
2V Ji  remember  seeing  one  before.  She 
is  a  pale  edition  of  the  male,  just  a  touch 
of  chestnut,  and  her  yellow  cap  duller. 
The  male  sang,  a  song  almost  exactly  like 
the  yellow  warbler  in  form,  but  lacking  the 
piercing  quality  of  that  bird's  song. 

May,  1902.  Heard  a  very  full  sweet 
song  from  this  bird,  quite  loud,  much  more 
pleasing  and  rounder  than  the  yellow. 

May  19,  1907.  The  song  struck  me  as 
very  like  the  yellow's,  but  less  piercing, 
and  the  finale  had  more  of  a  twist  to  it. 


[  129] 


CONNECTICUT  WARBLER 

May  29 ,  1894 
May  1 6,  1896 
May  21,  1897 
May  20,  1898 

I  SAW  this  bird  first  on  a  low  tree  in  the 
main  street  of  Elmhurst.  I  followed 
the  loud,  ringing,  wheedle-dee,  wheedle- 
dee,  wheedle-dee,  supposing  of  course  I 
should  see  a  Maryland  Yellow-throat, 
when  what  was  my  surprise  to  find  it  the 
Connecticut  warbler.  I  watched  it  sing 
many  times.  The  song  is  almost  exactly 
like  the  Maryland.  It  is  often  repeated 
three  times,  sometimes  only  twice.  Its 
ash-colored  head  and  yellow  breast  and 
under  parts,  with  no  white  on  wings  make 
it  a  sober  bird.  The  ash  terminating 
abruptly  into  yellow  on  the  breast  is  the 
distinguishing  mark,  and  the  light  ring 
around  the  eye  enables  one  to  identify  it 
as  a  Connecticut  and  not  a  light-colored 
mourning  warbler  which  it  otherwise 
closely  resembles. 

May,  1896.  The  loud  ringing  song  at- 
tracted me  again  to  this  bird  in  Lake  For- 
est this  morning.  It  utters  the  first  two 


Bird  Observations 

notes  without  the  third  quite  often.  It  is  a 
remarkable  song,  heard  at  a  long  distance, 
but  seldom  uttered.  It  is  a  more  vigorous 
and  resonant  song,  than  the  yellow- 
throat's,  but  the  form  of  it  very  similar. 
It  is  a  hard  bird  to  see,  for  though  it  al- 
lows you  to  come  quite  close  it  keeps  con- 
stantly in  the  thick  foliage,  usually  in 
hedges,  or  the  lower  part  of  spruces. 

May  17.  Have  heard  it  again.  On 
more  familiar  acquaintance  it  sounds  more 
like  "too-too-whit"  than  the  syllables  of 
the  yellow-throat.  Mrs.  Hubbard  is  with 
me  today,  and  has  heard  it  too. 

May,  1897.  A  fine  study  of  the  bird, 
the  best  I  ever  had.  How  loud  and  strik- 
ing the  song  is  !  It  seems  less  and  less  like 
the  yellow-throat's.  He  shakes  his  little 
body  all  over  when  he  sings,  wings  and  tail 
vibrate  furiously,  and  he  throws  his  head 
away  back.  He  sings  from  a  low  branch 
and  then  dives  down  into  a  thicket  and  is 
quiet  for  a  time. 

May  23,  1907.  A  Connecticut  warbler 
stayed  in  the  thicket  south  of  our  library 
window  for  a  long  time.  I  watched  him 
through  the  long  field  glass.  He  stood 
for  some  minutes  motionless  on  the 
ground,  evidently  watching  some  other 

[130 


Bird  Observations 

birds  in  a  tree.  He  looked  like  a  little 
gnome  or  sprite  against  the  dark  back- 
ground, and  when  he  faced  me  he  looked 
like  a  spectacled  brownie  with  his  light  eye 
rings.  He's  a  great  bird  to  keep  under 
cover  and  I  never  had  such  a  long  and 
satisfactory  view  of  one  before. 


[  132] 


GOLDEN-WINGED  WARBLER 

May  25,  i goo 

FOUND  him  after  a  long  chase  in  the 
"chat  woods"  west  of  Fort  Sheridan. 
The  song  first  attracted  me,  and  was  many 
times  repeated.  An  indolent,  rather 
wheezy  three,  or  usually  four,  notes,  all 
on  one  note.  Like  the  cerulean's  a  little 
in  quality  only,  or  a  little  of  the  black- 
throated  blue  and  green's  huskiness.  A 
lazy  song,  very  distinctive,  not  loud,  often 
repeated.  Syllables  that  recall  it  to  me, 
"S'h,  hush,  hush,  hush,"  the  last  three 
slightly  quicker  than  the  first,  but  all 
drawled  and  insect-like. 

June  8th.  The  same  bird  still  in  the 
same  place.  Can  he  be  nesting?  Sang  just 
as  constantly  as  before.  Had  fine  views 
of  him,  and  was  struck  with  the  vividness 
of  his  yellow  crown. 

May  14,  1901.  Saw  him  in  our  own 
grounds  and  heard  the  song  again.  First 
description  tallies  exactly  with  the  second 
impression,  not  always  the  case  with  bird 
songs.  I  have  now  seen  this  warbler 
three  times  this  spring.  He  probably  did 
not  nest  in  the  chat  woods  last  year,  as  I 
never  saw  him  after  June  8th. 

[  133  ] 


HOODED  WARBLER 

April  1 6,  1895 
(Georgia) 

I  FOLLOWED  the  loud  song  of  this 
warbler  for  a  long  time  in  the  thick 
woods  this  morning  before  I  discovered 
what  bird  it  came  from.  It  was  a  vigor- 
ous, rather  short  warbler  song,  sounding 
like  the  syllables  in  "Yes,  yes,  yes,  I  know 
it,"  with  an  upward  inflection  on  the  "I 
know."  There  were  a  number  of  these 
warblers  in  the  woods  but  I  only  saw  two. 
The  song  of  the  second  was  longer,  and 
not  so  marked  in  its  inflections,  so  that  I 
did  not  recognize  it  as  coming  from  the 
same  species  till  I  saw  the  bird.  This  is 
certainly  one  of  the  most  striking  of  the 
warblers.  The  black  hood,  extending 
round  both  front  and  back  of  the  neck  and 
the  back  part  of  the  head,  encircles  the 
brilliant  yellow  of  the  forehead  and  the 
part  around  the  eye.  The  contrast  makes 
the  yellow  appear  more  gorgeous  than  al- 
most any  other  bit  of  warbler  coloring, 
except,  perhaps,  the  throat  of  Blackburn's 
warbler. 

[  134  j 


MAGNOLIA  WARBLER 

Spring,  1893 
May  8,  1894 
May,  1895 
May  77,  1896 
May  II y  1897 

THIS  bird  ranks  close  to  the  Black- 
burnian  and  black-throated  green 
warblers  in  brilliancy. 

May  75,  1894.  I  heard  the  song,  quite 
sweet,  warbled,  something  like  the  first 
uwhee-chee-tee"  of  the  Maryland  yellow- 
throat,  but  it  is  broken  off,  in  fact  the  bird 
never  seemed  to  finish  it.  It  is  not  nearly 
as  long  as  the  yellow-throat's  song,  but  it 
is  sweet  and  melodious. 

May  24th.  It  varies  its  song  a  good 
deal,  but  retains  the  broken  off,  interrupted 
effect,  and  is  always  musical  and  sweetly 
warbled. 

July  14,  1905.  S.  W.  Harbor,  Me. 
Song  "whit-chee,  whit-chee,  whit-chee, 
wee-up,"  the  last  very  hurried  and  broken 
at  the  end,  the  whole  sounding  at  a  dis- 
tance as  broken  off  and  abrupt  as  the 
Acadian  Flycatcher.  Heard  another  song 
among  the  thick  woods  for  days  and  days, 

[135] 


Bird  Observations 

but  could  never  see  the  bird.  Was  it  the 
magnolia?  It  said  "whit-che-tee,  wee-up, " 
over  and  over  again. 

July  25,  1905.  Female  magnolia  with 
insect  in  her  bill  chirped  almost  as  loud 
and  as  harshly  as  a  house  sparrow,  then 
changed  to  the  usual  warbler  chirp,  then 
to  a  faint  "  'tsip"  like  a  kinglet.  She 
changed  back  and  forth  in  these  various 
chirps  many  times. 

May,  1906.  Lake  Forest.  Yes,  I  think 
that  S.  W.  Harbor  bird  was  the  magnolia 
without  a  doubt.  This  one  said  "veni 
vidi,  vici"  over  and  over  to  me,  in  the 
same  tone  of  voice. 


MARYLAND  YELLOW-THROAT 

May  13,  1894 
May  21,  1897 

/TpHESE  warblers  keep  in  the  dense 
A  thickets  and  evergreens,  usually  low 
down,  so  they  are  hard  to  see,  but  the 
song,  as  constant  as  the  red-eyed  vireo's, 
betrays  their  whereabouts.  The  song,  well 
described  by  "whee-che-tee,"  three  and 
sometimes  four  times  repeated,  is  loud  and 
seems  to  me  to  have  more  of  the  red-eyed 
vireo's  quality  than  the  warbler  songs 
usually  have.  It  is  a  vigorous  and  marked 
song.  Yet  I  have  heard  the  Connecticut 
warbler  sing  exactly  like  it. 

May  14,  1906.  This  sang  "wit-che-tee, 
wit-che-tee,  wit-che-tee,  wee-chee-hall-or- 
ee,"  a  little  variation  after  each  thrice  re- 
peated wit-che-tee. 

May  20,  1907.  Saw  a  female  Mary- 
land yellow-throat  today.  Such  a  charm- 
ing little  creature  as  she  was,  carrying  her 
tail  like  a  little  wren.  She  had  quite  a 
tinge  of  reddish  on  her  forehead,  and  the 
yellow  of  the  under  tail  coverts  was  plain- 
ly visible.  She  stepped  along  in  the  grass 
with  such  a  dainty  air — she  seemed  as 
pretty  and  winning  as  the  male. 

[137] 


MOURNING  WARBLER 

May  27,  i8g8 
(Lake  Forest) 

HAVE  watched  for  this  bird  all  these 
years  and  never  seen  him  till  today. 
The  dark  line  around  eye  and  back  of  it 
distinguishes  it  readily  from  the  Connecti- 
cut warbler.  No  song  heard. 

May  26,  IQOO.  Saw  a  fine  male,  the 
breast  markings  very  dark.  Sang  con- 
stantly, a  pretty  song,  flexible,  whistled, 
less  in  volume  than  the  Connecticut  war- 
bler, but  reminding  one  a  little  of  it.  It 
was  repeated  three  or  four  times  always, 
the  syllables  seemed  like  "hall-or-ree, 
hall-or-ree,  hall-or-ree,"  and  sometimes 
ending  with  a  uwhoit,  whoit"  on  a  lower 
key  at  the  end.  A  slight  resemblance  to 
the  oven-bird's,  and  yet  so  much  less  loud 
and  beating.  It  is  louder  at  the  end, 
though,  than  at  the  beginning. 

June  7,  7900.  Heard  him  singing  con- 
stantly in  one  place,  but  got  a  poor  view 
of  him.  He  was  a  regular  will-o'-the-wisp 
and  led  me  a  chase.  I  never  saw  a  bird 
seem  so  shy. 


Bird  Observations 

May  29,  1903.  Saw  him  and  heard  the 
song  constantly,  quality  as  described,  but 
form  different,  more  monotonous,  less  of  it 
and  not  three  times  repeated,  just  four  or 
five  liquid  notes,  not  to  be  described  in 
syllables. 

May  25,  IQ08.  One  sang  for  nearly  an 
hour,  and  when  I  came  back  two  hours 
later  he  was  still  singing  in  the  same  spot. 
The  song  was  loud,  and  uttered  with  al- 
most no  variation  the  entire  time  I  listened 
to  it.  It  was  a  rapid,  rolling  whistle,  "hall- 
or-ee,"  three  or  four  times  repeated,  the 
liquid,  rolling  sound  being  very  pro- 
nounced, a  noticeable  and  attractive  song. 
Saw  the  bird  well  and  watched  him  sing. 
He  is  a  shy  bird,  though,  and  keeps  well 
out  of  sight.  I  must  have  followed  him 
three-quarters  of  an  hour  before  I  caught 
a  glimpse  of  him. 

May  27,  1908.  Had  good  view  of  fe- 
male— hard  to  tell  from  male  Connecticut 
— but  the  eye  ring  was  not  conspicuous 
nor  consecutive.  Throat  was  whitish  in 
middle  otherwise  breast  was  a  pure  French 
grey  color.  Under  parts  quite  yellow,  a 
lovely  bird. 

June  6,  1909.  Have  seen  and  heard 
the  mourning  warbler  several  times  since 

[  139] 


Bird  Observations 

May  28th  on  our  place,  near  the  house. 
Singing  constantly. 

June  6th.     Sang  nearly  all  day. 


MYRTLE  WARBLER 


April  3, 

September  20)  1893 
April  22,  1894 
October  n,  1895 
May  5,  1897 
April  77,  1898 

THE  earliest  to  arrive  of  the  whole 
warbler  family,  and  individuals  either 
linger  here  or  pass  through  up  to  the  mid- 
dle of  May.  They  also  stay  here  some 
autumns  till  the  end  of  November.  The 
white  tail  feathers  and  yellow  rump  show 
plainly  while  flying.  It  is  less  restless  than 
most  of  the  warblers,  and  sometimes  sits 
still  on  a  tree.  The  chirp  is  loud,  and  ro- 
bust in  tone,  not  a  thin  squeak. 

April  21,  1898.  Heard  song  for  first 
time.  Very  varied,  sweet,  liquid,  some- 
times quite  long.  This  bird  sang  con- 
stantly while  I  watched  him,  and  it  seemed 
as  if  he  changed  his  song  dozens  of  times. 
Yet  it  is  a  genuine  warbler  song,  recogniz- 
able as  such  at  once. 


NASHVILLE  WARBLER 

September  25,  1893 
May    Q,  1894 
May  10,  1897 
May  13,  1898 

THE  coloring  of  the  Nashville  is 
in  plain  washes  without  distinctive 
marks.  Upper  parts  olive,  head  and  sides 
of  neck  bluish  ash,  throat  pure  yellow  shad- 
ing to  lighter  yellow  underneath.  It  is  the 
yellowest  of  the  plain  warblers. 

May  10,  1897.  I  heard  its  song,  some- 
what jumbled,  a  little  like  a  goldfinch,  but 
I  only  heard  it  a  few  times. 

May,  1898.  Had  fine  study  of  song. 
Description  in  Chapman's  book  perfect. 
First  note  very  high,  repeated  several 
times,  second  note  lower  and  uttered 
rapidly  like  a  chipping  sparrow's.  Rather 
an  insignificant  and  unmusical  song. 

July,  1905.  Heard  a  warbler — always 
invisible — for  several  weeks  at  S.  W. 
Harbor,  Me.,  sing  over  and  over  a  never 
varying  song — six  notes  all  alike,  then  a 
rapid  trill  like  a  chippy.  Was  it  the  Nash- 
ville? It  was  not  just  like  what  I  had 


Nashville  Warbler 


Bird  Observations 

heard  before,  and  I  never  saw  a  Nashville 
once  at  S.  W. 

May  gy  1906.  Heard  a  song  very  like 
the  above  out  my  window,  and  looking 
out  saw  the  Nashville,  no  doubt  the  Mt. 
Desert  bird,  but  his  song  in  migration  is 
less  pronounced  and  vigorous. 


f  1431 


ORANGE-CROWNED  WARBLER 

MAY  1 6,  1907.  Twice  before  I  have 
identified  this  bird,  only  once  to  my 
own  satisfaction,  but  today  I  had  a  fine, 
close  study  of  him,  or  her,  I  think  it  was. 
Such  a  darkish,  dull  bird,  and  perceptible 
eye  ring,  especially  top  and  bottom,  a  small 
darkish  line  through  the  eye.  Side  of  head 
all  washed  with  olive,  not  separated  into 
dark  and  almost  white  by  a  horizontal  eye 
line  as  in  the  Tennessee. 


[  144] 


OVEN  BIRD 


May  19 
May     6y  1894 
May,  1895 
April  29,  1896 

I  ALWAYS  see  the  oven  bird  here  in 
the  village  in  the  spring  migration,  and 
usually  in  the  fall  also,  but  in  summer  it 
takes  to  the  thick  woods,  where  its  loud 
remarkable  "whip-tee"  can  be  heard  rat- 
tled off  with  great  energy  at  almost  any 
hour  of  the  day.  In  June,  1894,  Edith 
Skeele  and  I  found  a  young  oven  bird  sit- 
ting serenely  on  a  branch  while  the  parent 
bird  shouted  in  vigorous  tones  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. But  the  little  bird  was  not  at 
all  afraid  of  us,  and  ate  some  large  worms 
which  we  presented  to  it. 


[145] 


PARULA  WARBLER 

May  10,  1894 

(Elmhurst) 
May  ii,  i8gj 
(Lake  Forest) 

THE  triangular  patch  of  greenish  yel- 
low is  plainly  seen  on  the  back  of  this 
bird.  The  throat  and  breast  are  golden 
yellow,  with  a  wash  of  grey  across  the 
lower  throat,  and  the  yellow  ends  rather 
abruptly  in  the  white  of  the  under  parts. 

May  ii,  1897.  Only  the  second  time  I 
have  seen  this  bird,  and  only  one  individual 
this  time,  and  no  song  either  time. 

May  28,  1007.  Heard  two  sing.  Song 
a  little  like  the  cerulean's,  but  more  rasp- 
ing, not  so  deliberate,  a  trill,  with  an  up- 
ward break  at  the  end. 


PALM  WARBLER 

May  5,  1894 
May  6,  1895 
September  29,  1895 
May  7,  1898 

THE  chestnut  on  this  bird's  head  is 
almost  as  bright  as  that  of  the  chip- 
ping sparrow  and  the  line  dividing  this 
from  the  cheek  quite  as  conspicuous  only 
it  is  yellow.  It  is  a  very  lively  warbler, 
flirting  its  tail  constantly,  and  running  on 
the  ground  like  a  wren.  It  is  remarkable 
how  closely  it  resembles  the  Carolina 
wren  when  seen  in  this  way. 

Lake  Forest,  May  4,  1901.  Watched 
a  palm  warbler  sing  this  morning,  the  first 
time  I  ever  heard  the  song.  It  is  some- 
thing between  the  chipping  sparrow  and 
the  black  and  white  creeper,  a  monotonous 
che-we,  che-we,  che-we. 

April  27,  1906.  Saw  three,  and  two  at 
least  were  singing,  a  rather  canary-like 
trill,  not  a  noticeable  song.  It  likes  the 
fences  along  the  roadsides — and  flirts  in 
and  out  tilting  his  tail  constantly. 


PINE  WARBLER 

September  gy  1893 
May  4,  1894 
August  30,  1894 
September  I,  1895 

^  I  AHE  white  wing  bars  are  a  distinctive 
A  mark  in  identifying  this  bird.  They 
seem  more  plentiful  in  the  fall  than  in  the 
spring.  In  September,  1803,  the  whole 
village  seemed  to  be  full  of  them.  Their 
note  at  this  time  was  the  typical  warbler 
squeak,  uttered  very  often. 

April  27,  1906,  Lake  Forest.  The  pine 
warbler  does  not  seem  to  me  as  dainty  and 
aristocratic  a  bird  as  most  of  his  family. 
The  one  I  saw  today  had  very  inconspicu- 
ous wing  bars — hardly  noticeable. 


REDSTART 

May  13,  1893 
May,  1894 
May  7,  1895 
April  30,  1896 
May  9,  1897 

THE  redstart  is  supposed  to  nest  here 
but  I  seldom  see  it  in  summer,  though 
it  is  always  a  common  migrant  in  the 
spring.  It  always  seems  as  if  there  were 
so  many  miniature  males  and  females  in 
proportion  to  the  brilliant  old  male  birds. 
The  song  is  very  like  many  of  the  other 
warbler  songs  (how  confusing  they  are!) 
but  it  is  apt  to  end  its  zie-zie-zie  with  a 
break  at  the  end,  giving  it  a  sharp,  unfin- 
ished sort  of  termination.  Sometimes  they 
sing  as  a  black  and  white  creeper  does,  a 
sort  of  saw  filing,  but  not  so  thin  in  quality. 


TENNESSEE  WARBLER 

September 
May  8,  1894 
September,  1 
May  6,  1896 
May  14,  1897 

SUCH  a  plain  little  warbler  compared 
with  the  gayer  members  of  the  family! 
It  it  so  like  the  warbling  vireo  in  color,  only 
the  line  through  the  eye  is  more  obscure. 

May  15,  1894.  I  saw  ^is  species  sing 
frequently,  a  very  loud  song  beginning 
with  a  sort  of  sawing  two  note  trill,  rather 
harsh  and  very  staccato,  but  hesitating  in 
character,  increasing  to  a  rapid  trill  almost 
exactly  like  a  chipping  sparrow's.  A 
noticeable  but  not  especially  musical  song. 

May  10,  189$.  I  again  heard  many  of 
these  birds  sing.  They  seem  to  be  one  of 
the  most  constant  and  vociferous  singers  of 
any  of  our  warblers. 

May  14,  1904.  Seen  against  the  grass 
this  bird  is  far  from  dull.  Head  so  bluish, 
and  back  so  green,  and  all  so  soft  and 
delicately  tinted. 


[150] 


WATER-THRUSH 

April  24,  1898 
(Lake  Forest) 

FINE  view  of  bird  in  the  south  ravine. 
He  is  so  yellow  below,  especially 
towards  the  tail.  His  legs  looked  so  pink 
and  clean.  I  have  seen  this  bird  in  Elm- 
hurst  (I  suppose)  at  least  twice,  but  have 
never  been  able  to  get  a  good  enough  view 
of  him  to  be  sure  he  was  not  the  Louisiana. 
April  23,  1904.  Had  fine  study  of  one. 
Saw  his  streaked  chin  and  dull  whitish  line 
over  eye,  sang  constantly,  always  the  same 
song:  three  notes  "wee-wee-wee"  (all 
same  note)  then  "wee-chy,  wee-chy" — not 
so  loud  and  piercing — the  whole  song,  I 
mean,  as  many  I  have  heard.  I  hope  I 
can  learn  the  difference  between  the  songs 
of  the  two  water  thrushes.  Individuals 
differ  so,  it  is  hard  to  distinguish  which 
species  is  singing. 


LOUISIANA  WATER-THRUSH 

May  5,  1897 
May,  1898 

(Lake  Forest) 

1  HEARD  a  loud,  sweet  song  in  our  ra- 
vine this  morning  and  thought  at  first 
it  was  an  indigo  bird,  but  soon  noticed  that 
it  was  wilder  and  less  regular  in  the  open- 
ing notes.  The  song  was  repeated  almost 
at  regular  intervals,  like  a  warbler's  song, 
but  not  quite  so  often.  I  only  saw  the  bird 
once,  but  his  whitish  line  over  his  eye  was 
most  conspicuous. 

May  ii,  1897.  He  has  been  here  con- 
stantly now  for  nearly  a  week.  He  con- 
fines his  ramblings  entirely  to  our  ravine 
and  occasionally  a  few  neighboring  ones. 
I  have  had  a  fine  study  of  him  this  a.  m. 
which  I  have  found  a  difficult  thing  to  get, 
as  he  is  extremely  shy.  He  waded  along 
the  edge  of  the  brook,  singing  from  time  to 
time,  and  showing  his  white  throat  and 
long  superciliary  white  line  most  clearly. 
The  song  is  about  eight  notes,  uttered 
nearly  all  day.  Two  notes  low,  two  high 


Bird  Observations 

and  then  about  four  low  again  and  more 
rapid.  He  left  May  igth. 

June  21 ',  1898.  Heard  the  water  thrush 
again,  so  he  must  be  breeding  here.  In 
May  I  saw  several  of  these  birds. 

May  18,  1901.  Identified  one  today 
past  a  doubt.  Saw  the  white  throat,  and 
how  white  the  breast  was,  compared  with 
the  short-billed! 

April  20,  1902.  Heard  and  saw  one 
sing.  Except  for  the  three  opening  notes 
I  never  would  have  recognized  the  song. 
The  first  three  notes  were  the  usual  clear, 
piercing  water  thrush  whistle,  but  the  rest 
was  an  intricate  jumble  of  fine  notes  far 
softer,  and  of  an  entirely  different  quality, 
quite  a  song,  not  a  brief  note  or  two.  He 
repeated  this  song  several  times,  always 
beginning  with  the  three  piercing  notes.  I 
saw  him  finely,  his  white,  unstreaked  chin, 
and  pure  white  underparts. 

May  14,  1904.  Song  consisted  of  three 
notes  "wee-wee-wee,"  then  uwhit-chee, 
whit-chee,"  followed  by  a  confused  and 
less  loud  jumble — reminded  me  of  song  of 
Canada  warbler,  only  louder. 

May  4,  1905.  Close  to  me,  no  doubt 
that  it  was  the  Louisiana.  Sang  number  of 
times,  always  the  same,  a  liquid,  rolling 

[153] 


Bird  Observations 

4  *  wit-wit-wit, "  seven  notes  in  all,  louder  in 
the  middle. 

April  20,  1906.  Still  struggling  to  tell 
the  songs  of  the  two  water  thrushes  apart 
Watched  a  Louisiana  today — he  sang  the 
song  exactly  as  heard  May  14,  1904,  ex- 
cept that  the  jumble  did  not  usually  follow. 
Heard  a  second  bird  sing  an  intricate  low 
song,  as  if  to  himself,  as  jumbled  as  a  gold- 
finch's, but  with  the  "wee-wee-wee"  thrown 
in  every  now  and  then.  Thought  this  bird 
was  a  noveboracensis,  but  am  not  sure. 


[154] 


WILSON'S   BLACK-CAP  WARBLER 

May  13,  1893 
May  21,  1895 
May  25,  1897 
May  21,  1898 

THE  first  glimpse  I  had  of  this  pretty 
warbler  was  in  the  currant  bushes  at 
Cherry  Farm  in  Elmhurst.  He  looked  yel- 
lower than  the  books  describe  him,  and 
with  his  jet  black  cap  he  was  quite  a  con- 
spicuous bird.  I  have  not  seen  him  again 
till  May,  1895.  The  side  view  of  his  black 
cap  makes  him  look  as  if  he  had  a  black 
stripe  over  his  eye.  This  warbler  seems  to 
be  one  of  our  least  common  species. 

May  13,  1895.  Saw  him  again  this 
afternoon  on  the  road  to  the  spring. 

May  25,  1897.  Watched  this  warbler 
for  an  hour  back  of  our  garden.  He  came 
several  times  within  five  ft.  of  me  and  was 
as  friendly  as  possible.  He  sang  re- 
peatedly, a  full,  chord-like  "chee-chee- 
chee"  followed  by  a  goldfinch  trill,  varied 
somewhat  as  to  this  latter,  but  usually  the 
prelude  the  same. 

May  I9th.  The  black  cap  has  been  un- 
commonly abundant  this  year.  I  have  seen 

[155] 


Bird  Observations 

him  four  or  five  different  times,  and  usu- 
ally I  see  him  but  once  or  twice.  Saw  one 
sing  today,  a  jumbled,  not  loud,  warbler 
song,  with  a  warbled  or  vibrating  qual- 
ity in  it,  not  the  "zie,  zie." 

May  28,  1907.  This  bird  twitches  his 
tail  nervously  with  the  rotary  motion  the 
cat-bird  has,  and  also  lifts  his  wings  at  the 
same  time  as  the  ruby  kinglet  does. 

May  24.,  1910,  and  later,  been  singing 
constantly,  quality  a  little  like  mourning 
warbler's  "  Vie,  t'le,  t'le,  t'le,  chee,  chee, 
chee,"  quite  loud  and  ringing,  watched  him 
sing. 


[156] 


YELLOW  WARBLER 

May  10,  1893 
May  5,  1894 
May  7,  1895 
April  30,  1896 
May  8,  1897 

PLAIN  golden  yellow,  the  back  tinged 
with  green  and  the  breast  more  or  less 
distinctly  streaked  with  brown.    One  of  the 
few  warblers  that  nests  here. 

May  18,  1901.  How  abundant  this 
bird  is  at  Ardleigh !  At  this  time  of  the 
year  redstarts  and  yellow  warblers  mo- 
nopolize our  woods.  He  always  seems  to 
me  to  say  "hip-hip-hip-hip,  hip-hurrah- 
hurrah." 


[157] 


YELLOW-BREASTED  CHAT 

May  12,  1898 
(Lake  Forest) 

I  HAVE  been  watching  for  this  bird  for 
years  but  have  never  seen  it  till  today. 
I  rode  out  to  the  woods  west  of  Ft.  Sheri- 
dan and  while  there  heard  the  queerest 
loud  whistle  followed  by  a  rapid  scolding. 
As  this  issued  from  a  thick  bush  I  thought 
of  a  chat  at  once,  but  could  see  nothing. 
This  whistling  and  scolding  was  repeated 
at  intervals  from  various  parts  of  the  wood 
and  I  followed,  determined  to  see  him  if 
possible.  But  after  following  the  queer 
sounds  for  an  hour  or  so  I  was  just  giving 
up  and  going  home  when  there  he  was  on  a 
low  bush  some  distance  ahead  of  me,  but 
near  enough  to  see  his  gorgeous  yellow 
breast  clearly.  He  hopped  about  and 
stayed  long  enough  for  me  to  see  him  as 
much  as  I  wanted  to,  and  came  nearer  so  I 
could  distinguish  all  his  markings.  His 
"song"  is  certainly  the  most  remarkable 
one  I  ever  heard.  All  his  notes  are  so  loud 
and  imperative.  He  whistles  as  clearly  as 
a  quail,  but  louder,  chatters  like  a  giant 


Bird  Observations 

wren,  caws  like  a  crow,  and  makes  queer 
guttural  sounds  that  are  unlike  anything  I 
ever  heard.  It  is  all  so  loud  and  each  note 
so  distinctive  and  different  that  the  varia- 
tions of  a  catbird  or  brown  thrasher  sink 
into  sparrow  twitterings  beside  it. 

July  2-5,  1898.  Heard  him  again,  on 
second  date  heard  two  birds.  (Was  one 
the  female?)  One  sang  a  much  louder 
and  more  varied  "song"  than  the  other.  It 
was  in  the  Ft.  Sheridan  woods.  He  must 
have  nested  here. 

May  12,  igo2.  Mrs.  Moss  and  I  heard 
one  just  west  of  the  Chat  woods,  and  after 
stalking  him  for  a  short  time  saw  him  on  a 
bare  tree  where  he  sat  and  jerked  out  his 
ejaculations  for  a  long  time.  He  after- 
wards changed  to  two  other  trees,  in  both 
of  which  we  had  simply  perfect  views  of 
him.  He  pumps  himself  into  this  position 


when  "singing,"  with  his  throat  and  rump 
protruding  most  grotesquely.  I  never  had 
a  better  study  of  any  bird.  The  mate  an- 
swered him,  so  I  hope  they  will  nest  here 
again.  The  unmistakable  and  constantly 

[159] 


Bird  Observations 

recurring  "kouk"  in  his  song  makes  it  easy 
to  identify,  not  to  mention  its  other  pe- 
culiarities. 


[160] 


YELLOW-THROATED  WARBLER 

March  29,  1895 
(Georgia) 

T  CERTAINLY  thought  I  saw  this 
A  handsome  bird  in  Elmhurst  a  year  ago, 
and  yet  it  had  a  striped  back.  I  cannot 
be  sure  that  I  did.  This  one  in  Georgia 
has  a  blue-ash  back,  and  with  the  black  tri- 
angle back  of  his  eyes,  and  his  bright  yel- 
low throat  is  certainly  almost  as  beautiful 
as  the  magnolia  warbler.  His  song  was 
quite  loud,  and  varied,  usually  about  six 
or  eight  notes  and  then  a  trill  on  another 
key.  An  unmistakable  "warbler  song"  to 
my  way  of  thinking,  and  not  like  the  in- 
digo's as  the  book  says. 

April  75,  1895.  I  saw  this  bird  again 
here  in  Georgia  and  the  song  this  time  con- 
sisted of  several  notes  ending  in  a  trill  very 
much  like  a  chipping  sparrow. 


[161] 


WHIP-POOR-WILL 

May  8,  1897 
May  7,  1898 

(Lake  Forest) 

1USED  to  hear  these  birds  constantly 
around  our  old  farm  at  Winfield,  and 
once  I  think  I  saw  two  of  them.  But  here 
in  Elmhurst  I  have  never  yet  ( 1 895 )  heard 
one. 

May  8,  1897.  Kitty  Pomeroy  and  I 
started  up  a  whip-poor-will  in  the  ravine. 
It  lit  on  a  branch  near  us,  and  sat  there  as 
long  as  we  wanted  to  look  at  it,  and  then 
as  we  came  near  it  flew  off  as  silently  as  a 
bat.  In  the  evening  we  heard  two  answer- 
ing each  other  in  the  thick  woods.  They 
are  plentiful  here  (later) . 

May  77,  1901.  One  flew  down  on  the 
walk  twenty  ft.  from  where  we  were  sit- 
ting. He  seemed  to  lie  sidewise  on  the 
path  instead  of  perching,  and  after  a  min- 
ute or  two  flitted  silently  away. 


CAROLINA  WREN 

April  30,  1894 
(Elmhurst) 

SAW  a  pair  feeding  in  the  Sturges 
garden,  mostly  on  the  ground,  but  they 
frequently  flew  into  a  tree,  when  the  male 
would  throw  back  his  head  and  give  a 
sweet,  twittering  wren  song,  not  nearly  so 
exultant  or  gushing  as  the  house  wren's. 
He  sang  this  song  many  times  and  did 
nothing  else.  These  birds  appear  quite 
unlike  the  other  wrens,  being  larger,  and 
the  rusty  yellow  under  parts,  the  long  dark 
streak  over  the  eye,  and  the  rump  much 
brighter  than  the  rest  of  the  back  (the  one 
I  saw  looked  almost  greenish  red),  dis- 
tinguish it  from  the  house  wren  or  Bewick's 
wren.  These  birds  when  on  the  ground 
would  run  very  fast,  and  every  now  and 
then  would  flirt  up  into  the  air  with  a  regu- 
lar redstart  rush  and  tumble. 

May  ^rd.  Have  seen  them  again.  The 
male  sang  as  before,  nothing  else. 

Spring,  1899  and  1900.  Saw  and  heard 
this  bird  frequently  in  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina.  Do  not  feel  sure  of  it  always 


Bird  Observations 

as  distinguished  from  Bewick's,  as  far  as 
the  song  is  concerned. 

August  13,  1900.  Was  awakened  about 
five  a.  m.  here  at  Ardleigh  by  the  clear 
whistle  " willy-way,  willy-way,  willy-way, M 
outside  of  my  window. 

August  22nd.  Still  here,  have  heard 
him  several  times  in  the  garden,  but  have 
not  seen  him  yet.  Heard  him  up  to  the  last 
of  September  at  intervals. 

October  loth.  Saw  and  heard  him 
again,  good  view  of  him. 

October  ijth.    Here  still. 

June  2J ',  igoi.     Heard  him  again. 

August  gth.  Has  been  here  at  frequent 
intervals  since  June  2yth,  and  several  times 
I  have  seen  two  birds. 

November  24th.    Heard  again ! 

December  17,  1901.  Heard  a  vigorous 
"wren  scolding"  and  saw  a  Carolina  wren 
sitting  on  the  woodbine  on  our  east  porch. 
He  stayed  there  ten  or  fifteen  minutes,  and 
seemed  to  be  pulling  off  bits  of  bark.  I 
could  not  detect  any  berries.  He  was  cold, 
and  sat  down  on  his  feet  a  great  deal.  It 
was  only  i°  above  zero,  and  it  was  — 13° 
two  days  ago.  He  did  not  sing,  but 
scolded  a  great  deal,  and  bobbed  his  tail 
over  his  head.  He  let  me  come  very  near. 


Bird  Observations 

His  tail  and  wings  and  rump  were  very 
rufous,  the  breast  slightly  washed  with 
yellowish  rufous,  and  the  light  stripes  over 
his  eyes  were  very  grey,  not  white. 

May  19,  1902.  This  bird  has  been  here 
for  weeks  and  is  undoubtedly  nesting  here. 
How  I  wish  I  could  find  the  nest !  Saw  a 
pair  in  the  McCormick  ravine,  near  the 
lake,  a  few  days  after  this  last  entry. 

June  24th.  Heard  the  song  for  the  first 
time  since  last  note. 

October  30,  1902.  The  wren  has  been 
here  at  intervals  all  the  fall.  This  a.  m. 
I  saw  two,  presumably  a  pair.  One  sang 
steadily  for  nearly  twenty  minutes,  chang- 
ing its  song  many  times.  He  would  repeat 
the  same  roundelay  several  times,  and  then 
start  on  another,  repeat  that,  and  so  on. 

August  12,  1908.  Heard  one  again, 
after  an  interval  of  four  years  in  which  I 
have  not  seen  or  heard  a  trace  of  one. 
Twice  a  few  days  before  this  date  I 
thought  I  heard  one  in  the  distance,  but 
this  a.  m.  he  was  close  by  and  singing 
loudly. 

August  1 4th.    Still  here. 

July  i,  1909.  The  wren  has  been  here 
all  the  spring  and  sung  constantly.  He 
must  have  nested  in  the  near  vicinity.  Is 
still  singing  daily. 

[165] 


WINTER  WREN 

April  8,  1897 
(Chicago  Heights) 

Fall,  1897 
April  17,  1898 

(Lake  Forest) 

1GOT  a  fine  study  of  this  wren  on  my 
first  sight  of  him.  He  stayed  in  a  hol- 
low of  the  wood  as  long  as  I  wanted  to 
look  at  him,  and  frisked  about  not  ten 
feet  away  from  me,  peering  out  at  me  every 
now  and  then,  but  otherwise  quite  uncon- 
cerned. 

April,  1898.  Heard  a  fragment  of  its 
song,  too  little  to  tell  much  about  it,  and  he 
would  not  repeat  it. 

October  8,  1900.  One  bobbed  at  me 
from  a  nearby  branch  most  vigorously, 
and  scolded  me  well.  He  chirped  a  great 
deal,  two  chirps  uttered  in  quick  succession, 
the  last  a  note  higher  than  the  first,  quite 
a  distinctive,  double  sort  of  chirp.  His 
scolding,  a  small  chatter,  reminds  me  of 
the  ruby  crowned  Kinglet's. 

[166] 


Bird  Observations 

December  8}  1907.  A  winter  wren 
came  on  the  porch  this  morning  and  flitted 
in  and  out  of  the  railing  and  sat  on  the  top 
of  it  for  some  time.  It  was  a  mild  day,  no 
snow.  I  have  never  seen  one  so  late  be- 
fore. 


BIRD  OBSERVATIONS 
IN  EUROPE 


BIRD  OBSERVATIONS  IN  EUROPE 


July,  August  and  September  y  1906 

yULY  idth.  Stormy  Petrel.  A  small 
flock  flying  back  and  forth  at  the  stern 
of  the  ship  in  mid-ocean.  They  looked  so 
small  and  so  black,  and  the  rump  so  white. 
They  flew  like  martins,  and  kept  close  to 
the  water.  They  followed  the  ship  for 
some  days. 

July  20th.  Herring  Gulls.  Seen  before 
land  was  in  sight.  As  we  came  nearer  land 
they  came  in  crowds,  and  followed  the  ship 
for  food. 

July  20th.  Lesser  Black-Backed  Gulls. 
I  felt  satisfied  it  was  this  species  that 
mingled  with  the  herring  gulls — though 
their  backs  were  not  black,  but  brownish, 
not  in  full  plumage  yet. 

July  20th.  Puffin.  Close  to  the  English 
coast  one  of  these  queer  birds  was  sitting 
in  the  water.  His  bill  gave  him  the  effect 
of  wearing  a  red  mask,  and  he  looked  like 
a  clown.  He  half  tumbled,  half  flew  out 
of  the  way  of  the  ship. 

July  2 1 st.     House  Sparrow.     First  bird 


Bird  Observations 

heard  in  France,  and  noted  in  many  cities 
and  villages  afterwards. 

July  25th.  Vevey.  Black-headed  Gull. 
Numbers  of  them  sitting  on  the  blue 
waters  of  Lake  Geneva,  and  later  in  the 
morning  flying  gracefully  over  it.  Hand- 
some birds,  beautifully  marked,  and  giving 
a  most  charming  effect  seen  against  the 
turquoise  blue  of  the  lake  with  the  moun- 
tains for  a  background. 

July  2$th.  Vevey.  Swallow.  Many 
flying  about  the  hotel  and  over  the  lake, 
pretty  fellows,  and  though  marked  rather 
differently  from  our  barn  swallow  looking 
much  like  it  as  they  fly. 

July  25th.  Vevey.  Martin.  Associated 
with  the  swallows,  but  the  white  rump 
and  m!uch  less  deeply  forked  tail  made  it 
easy  to  distinguish.  Smaller  than  our  mar- 
tin, only  five  and  one-half  inches. 

July  26th.  Vevey.  Greenfinch.  Saw  one 
close  to  the  hotel,  all  olive  green  and  yel- 
low, saw  the  yellow  rump  plainly.  He  had 
a  very  heavy  bill.  He  sang  a  very  sweet 
song,  trill  after  trill,  on  varied  keys,  all 
•soft  and  attractive,  sometimes  a  warble 
introduced,  but  mostly  the  trills. 

July  2jth.  Vevey.  Common  Buzzard. 
He  has  been  sailing  over  the  lake  daily, 

[172] 


Bird  Observations 

a  sinister,  dark  bird,  his  wings  flapping  like 
a  crow,  sometimes  soaring;  tail  long,  a 
falcon  beak,  the  ends  of  his  wings  having 
the  quills  spread  apart  like  the  fingers  of 
a  hand.  He  seemed  to  be  looking  for  food 
from  the  ships,  I  thought,  for  he  would 
dive  down  once  in  awhile,  as  if  he  were 
pouncing  on  his  prey. 

July  joth.    Zermatt.    Swift. 

July  ^oth.  Zermatt.  Saw  large  black 
or  very  dark  birds,  larger  (I  should  think) 
than  a  crow,  soaring  over  the  mountains 
at  the  Staffel-Alp,  a  dozen  or  so.  They 
had  conspicuous  yellow  bills.  What  were 
they?  Do  not  think  their  bills  were 
hooked  like  a  hawk,  but  am  not  sure. 
(This  was  Coracias  des  Alpes,  Fregilus 
graculus.) 

July  ^oth.  Zermatt.  Chaffinch.  Saw  a 
handsome  male  in  the  road,  and  later  near 
the  hotel  a  female  feeding  a  young  one,  no 
song. 

August  2jth.    Common  everywhere. 

August  ist.  Baveno,  Italy.  Black-Cap 
Fauvette.  Studied  songs  of  two  birds, 
both  undoubtedly  blackcaps  (Sylvia  atie- 
capilla)  though  they  were  difficult  to  see, 
as  they  kept  in  the  tops  of  high,  thick  trees. 

But  I  had  several  fairly  good  views  of 

[  173] 


Bird  Observations 

them,  and  could  see  the  blackcap,  slender 
black  bill,  ash  grey  breast,  and  the  greyish 
olive  back,  no  white  marks.  Movements 
were  like  our  vireos',  only  a  little  quicker. 
They  sang  in  the  garden  back  of  the  hotel 
from  6  a.  m.  to  7  130  p.  m.  with  no  very 
long  intervals.  I  never  heard  so  much  song 
from  any  species.  Song  varied  very  much. 
Heard  at  a  distance,  or  when  sung  softly 
it  was  much  like  our  warbling  vireo's. 
When  full  it  was  much  more  vigorous, 
brilliant,  varied,  and  with  an  oriole  quality. 
At  its  best  it  was  as  loud  and  lively  as  a 
Japanese  robin's.  The  ordinary  intervals 
were  about  the  same  length  as  a  warbling 
vireo's.  Often  the  bird  began  with  a  few 
sputtering  notes,  and  he  introduced  a  great 
many  small  chips  and  chirps  between  the 
songs.  Sometimes  he  would  whistle  three 
or  four  notes  all  on  one  note  during  his 
song,  quite  noticeable.  Song  usually 
"worked  upwards'7  in  key  as  a  ruby  king- 
let's does, — as  the  song  went  on — higher 
at  the  end  than  at  the  beginning.  Still 
this  was  not  always  so.  There  is  quite  a 
suggestion  of  the  purple  finch  in  it.  At  its 
best  it  was  a  loud,  noticeable  and  very 
beautiful  and  varied  song.  Birds  seemed 
very  shy,  though  they  sang  over  my  head 

[174] 


Bird  Observations 

for  hours,  but  almost  never  came  low,  only 
saw  one  do  it  once.  The  two  would  an- 
swer each  other  as  they  sang.  A  most 
interesting  study.  The  day  was  very  hot 
and  sunny,  but  it  did  not  seem  to  affect 
them. 

August  2nd.  Heard  them  again  all  day 
and  got  several  views  of  one,  also  a  female. 
Kay  saw  them  too,  black  cap  of  male  very 
distinct  as  he  leaned  his  head  down.  We 
were  doing  nothing  but  staying  in  the 
garden,  as  it  was  very  warm,  and  it  took 
long  patience  to  see  the  birds.  One  male, 
while  he  flitted  about  a  good  deal,  seldom 
left  the  vicinity  of  four  or  five  trees  near 
where  we  sat. 

August  ^rd.  Baveno.  Isola  Madre. 
Heard  a  loud,  bright,  challenging  song, 
sung  over  and  over,  beginning  with  several 
rapid  notes  all  on  one  key,  and  then  a 
warble,  all  bright,  noticeable,  land  gay. 
The  gardener  said  it  was  a  "fringuello," 
chaffinch,  and  I  believe  it  was. 

August  ^rd.  Baveno.  Saw  gulls  in  the 
lake,  all  the  primaries  tipped  conspicuously 
with  black,  and  just  like  description  of  the 
Common  Gull.*  Also  saw  terns,  but  could 
not  tell  which  kind. 

*  Lr«e»s   ridibundus   have   black  primaries   and      J  ^ 
often  no  black  on  head. 

[175] 


Bird  Observations 

'August  i ^th.  Lugano.  Gold  crest? 
Heard  in  the  tops  of  the  pines,  same  note, 
it  seemed  to  me,  as  that  of  our  kinglet. 

August  20th.  Tellsplatte.  Lake  Lu- 
cerne. Spotted  Flycatcher.  No  mistaking 
this  fellow,  so  like  our  flycatchers  in  his 
ways,  and  general  appearance. 

August  20th.  Tellsplatte.  Nuthatch. 
More  like  our  red  breasted  than  the  white 
in  coloring,  heard  no  note. 

August  20th.  Tellsplatte.  Willow 
wren  probably  (or  Chiffchaff?).  Had  a 
fine  view  of  this  bird,  as  he  was  most  con- 
fiding. Color  of  back  seemed  a  duller 
olive  than  the  willow  wren's,  otherwise 
description  the  same.  There  was  a  dark 
line  through  the  eye  as  well  as  the  yel- 
lowish one  over  it,  and  the  primaries  were 
some  of  them  yellowish,  and  others  dark. 
No  white  on  tail  or  wings.  No  song  heard. 
Also  saw  a  tit  today,  but  could  not  identify 
it.  Must  have  been  the  blue  or  marsh  tit, 
seemed  rather  a  greenish  bird  in  the  light 
I  saw  it  in. 

August  23rd.     Grindelwald.     Crow. 

August  2 ^rd.  Grindelwald.  Pied  Wag- 
tail (?).  Only  a  glimpse  of  a  slim  light 
colored  bird  with  a  black  throat  and  neck 
(looked  like  a  black  bib),  long  tail,  rather. 


Bird  Observations 

Saw  the  black  throat  and  breast  unmistak- 
ably and  don't  think  there  is  much  doubt 
that  he  was  the  wagtail. 

August  2jth.  Grindelwald.  Great  Tit- 
mouse. Notes  very  varied,  some  of  them 
like  our  chickadee,  a  very  pretty  bird,  and 
a  very  active  one.  Saw  also  today  a  bird 
that  looked  the  size  and  type  of  a  bluebird 
on  a  fence,  close  at  hand,  slaty  grey,  very 
dark  all  over,  no  white,  except  lighter  on 
belly,  under  tail  and  back  of  belly  certainly 
seemed  to  be  a  chestnut.  Eye  and  bill  and 
legs  very  black.  No  white  marks.  Bird 
seemed  to  act  like  a  thrush,  but  too  small 
for  the  blackbird.  What  could  it  have 
been?  Seemed  shy. 

August  27th.  Spiez.  Blackbird.  Sooty 
black  all  over,  except  head  brown  on  top 
and  breast  darkly  mottled  with  brown. 
Size  about  eight  or  nine  inches.  Acted 
like  robin,  pulling  up  and  listening  for 
worms  on  lawn.  Build  of  brown  thrasher, 
somewhat.  No  yellow  bill  or  orbit,  was 
it  a  female?  Yes,  or  young  male  bird. 
Bird  very  near.  Saw  it  perfectly. 

August  28th.  Saw  another  just  like 
description,  but  it  seemed  not  so  long  a 
bird  to  me  this  time,  more  like  our  robin. 

[  177] 


Bird  Observations 

August  28th.  Aschi.  Wagtails.  Saw 
about  a  dozen  running  about  on  the  low 
roof  of  a  chalet  in  a  meadow,  flying  down 
to  the  meadow  occasionally,  but  mostly 
sunning  and  preening  themselves  on  the 
roof.  One  was  evidently  the  pied,  or  the 
continental  form,  motacilla  alba.  In  the 
one  I  saw  at  Grindelwald  the  breast  seemed 
to  have  the  black  end  in  this  shape  \^/ 
at  the  bottom,  not  as  in  the  picture.  WV 
The  other  wagtails  were  young  pieds  or 
the  yellow,  which  ?  They  answered  to  the 
description  in  Hudson  "top  of  head,  lore, 
nape,  back  and  scapulars  greenish  olive, 
bright  yellow  streak  over  the  eye,  lower 
parts  sulphur  yellowT,"  except  that  they  did 
not  seem  as  brightly  colored  as  that,  and 
they  had  a  noticeable  grey  spot,  rather 
large,  on  the  breast,  the  coloring  about  the 
throat,  sides  of  head,  etc.,  was  quite  yel- 
lowish, outer  tail  feathers  white.  Wag- 
tails do  not  carry  their  tails  as  high  as  our 
water  thrushes,  drag  them  more,  but  the 
motion  is  otherwise  quite  similar.  Were 
these  birds  motacilla  rayii  or  flava  (Euro- 
pean form  of  yellow),  or  young  of  lugu- 
brir?  Watched  them  a  long  time  in  excel- 
lent light. 

August  2gth.     Saw  three  wagtails  this 


Bird  Observations 

a.  m.  very  close  too,  all  alike.  Had  grey 
upper  parts,  a  pure  grey,  no  olive,  wings 
edged  with  white  (each  feather),  and  a 
white  bar,  tail  with  white  outer  feathers. 
No  black  on  throat  or  breast  except  a 
large  dark  spot  in  the  middle,  forehead 
and  sides  of  head  and  stripes  over  eye 
light,  but  not  white,  breast  and  belly  with- 
out yellow,  whitish. 

August  2Qth.  Spiez,  Magpie.  Came 
suddenly  into  sight  in  an  apple  tree.  Splen- 
did big  fellow  in  his  black  and  white. 
Chased  a  chaffinch  (  ?)  out  of  the  tree. 

August  2Qth.  Spiez.  Coal  Titmouse. 
Followed  the  song,  a  sweet,  clear  "Hall-or- 
ree,  hall-or-ree,  hall-or-ree,"  then  after 
while  a  change,  on  a  different  key,  "which- 
er-ree,"  several  times,  the  form,  reminding 
me  of  the  Carolina  wren,  the  tone  of  our 
chickadee's  phoebe  note,  only  not  so  plain- 
tive, gayer,  and  a  little  thinner.  He  sat  on 
a  telegraph  wire  and  sang  over  and  over. 
I  had  heard  the  same  notes  in  Grindelwald, 
but  could  not  trace  them.  He  looks  very 
much  like  our  chickadee,  as  does  also — in 
less  degree — the  marsh  titmouse. 

August  2gth.  Spiez.  Marsh  Titmouse. 
Head  and  nape  jet  black,  but  no  black  on 

[  179  ] 


Bird  Observations 

throat.  Saw  two,  one  seemed  to  be  keep- 
ing company  with  the  coal  tit. 

August  2gth.  Spiez.  Blue  Titmouse. 
Just  a  glimpse  of  him,  no  such  study  as  IVe 
had  of  the  great  and  the  coal,  but  enough 
to  be  sure  of  his  identity.  Saw  him  well 
later. 

August  28th-2(}th.  Spiez.  Nightingale. 
Saw  a  bird  dash  out  from  shrubs  near  a 
garden  wall,  chase  an  insect  and  back  sev- 
eral times,  something  like  a  flycatcher. 
Watched  him  again  next  day  near  an  old 
barn  in  an  orchard.  Size  and  coloring 
seemed  to  answer  exactly  to  the  nightin- 
gale. He  was  very  rufous  on  the  tail  and 
wings,  light  brown  upper  parts,  and  dull 
whitish  breast,  bill  black,  something  like  a 
bluebird's  in  shape  (I  should  think) ,  faint 
trace  of  light  orbital  ring,  coloring  on  the 
whole  something  like  our  veery,  only  no 
spots  on  breast.  What  was  it? 

(Luscinia  Philomela,  in  Paris  Collec- 
tion. ) 

August  ^oth.  Had  fine  study  of  him, 
he  was  chasing  flies  over  a  cabbage  patch 
(not  pressing  his  breast  against  a  thorn !) . 
Bill  was  as  above,  legs  and  feet  dark  flesh 
color.  He  had  a  timid,  thrush-like  air,  but 
would  let  me  get  quite  near,  he  lifted  his 

[180] 


Bird  Observations 

wings  nervously  once  in  awhile.  He 
caught  his  food  on  the  ground  or  made 
sallies  after  it  in  the  air,  and  often  lit  on 
the  top  of  a  bean  pole  where  I  could  see 
him  to  perfection.  He  could  be  nothing 
else  but  the  nightingale,  I  feel  sure.  If  I 
could  only  have  heard  his  songs !  (Proved 
to  be  above  by  collection  in  Paris.) 

August  ^oth.  Spiez.  Goldfinch.  A 
pretty  flock  in  a  sunny  meadow,  all  chirp- 
ing together  like  our  birds,  but  not  quite 
so  sweet  a  note.  Charming  birds,  they 
were,  but  they  did  not  stay  long  to  be  in- 
spected. I  saw  a  handsome  male,  though, 
with  his  red  front.  Chaffinches  abound 
everywhere.  Today,  September  2nd,  one 
came  right  on  to  the  porch  where  we  were 
sitting.  They  are  so  tame. 

September  2nd.  St.  Beatenberg.  Wren. 
Scolded  just  like  our  wren  and  acted  and 
looked  very  like  him. 

September  2nd.  St.  Beatenberg.  Ruti- 
cilla  tithys.  Black  Redstart.  Had  a  good 
study  of  this  bird,  have  had  glimpses  of 
him  before  in  other  places.  He  kept  low, 
fed  on  the  ground,  flew  in  and  out  from 
stone  piles  and  thickets.  Size  of  bluebird, 
bill  similar  also,  like  a  thrush  bill.  Upper 
parts  dark  bluish  slate,  lower  the  same, 

[181] 


Bird  Observations 

less  bluish  and  not  quite  so  dark,  still  not 
at  all  light,  whole  bird  as  dark  as  a  junco, 
tail  chestnut  underneath,  and  with  same 
color  on  the  outer  feathers  (saw  this 
plainly) .  Bird  lifted  his  tail  nervously 
quite  often,  and  appeared  shy,  but  came 
fairly  near.  Slight  trace  of  light  eye  ring. 
Might  have  been  a  colaris,  Alpine  accen- 
tor, which  is  a  little  larger  than  modularis. 
Ruticilla  tithys  is  this  bird,  some  specimens 
very  black,  some  just  like  above.  Paris- 
Jardin  des  Plantes,  verified  bird  notes. 
Wagtails  were  all  albas  that  I  saw,  and 
though  none  had  as  little  black  on  the 
breast  as  the  birds  I  saw  they  mlust  have 
been  young  ones,  for  no  other  motacillas 
were  like  them.  No  young  in  collection 
except  two  very  young  birds. 


(England) 

September  i6th.  Henley-on-Thames. 
Robin.  So  small  compared  with  ours,  and 
with  such  dainty,  shy  ways  (but  he  isn't 
shy,  really),  a  pretty  fellow. 

September  20th.  Leamington.  Abund- 
ant wherever  Fve  been,  and  singing  con- 
stantly even  in  dark  damp  weather.  A 
tinkling  song,  stuttering  a  little  at  the  out- 
set, very  varied,  sweet — resembles  slightly 
the  shore  lark's,  but  much  more  of  a  song. 
Sings  from  bushes  close  to  you,  or  a  coping, 
or  from  a  housetop,  as  one  did  from  a 
house  opposite  Shakespere's  in  Stratford. 

September  idth.  Henley-on-Thames. 
Heron,  Dabchick,  Moor  Hen,  Starling  (a 
great  flock),  Rooks,  Missal  Thrush  (a 
pair),  Kingfisher,  Pied  Wagtail  (Mota- 
cilla  lugubris) ,  several  of  these  pointed  out 
to  me  by  Mr.  Crisp — and  not  very  good 
views  of  them.  Starlings  I  saw  well  at 
Magdalene  College,  Oxford,  afterwards, 
and  rooks  are  everywhere,  noticeable  espe- 
cially about  the  top  of  Guy's  Tower,  War- 
wick Castle. 

September  2ist.  Lichfield.  Jackdaws 
in  crowds  about  the  spire  of  the  cathedral. 

September    24th.       Rowsley.       Robins 


Bird  Observations 

everywhere,  and  singing  constantly — such 
a  bubbling,  rippling  little  song,  all  of  a 
light  and  gentle  character,  but  no  two 
alike. 

Rowsley.  Song  Thrush.  Not  a  very 
good  look  at  him,  looked  so  yellowish  on 
the  sides  of  his  breast. 


NOTES  MADE  FROM  COLLEC- 
TION OF  BIRDS  IN  ILLINOIS 
BUILDING  AT  THE  WORLD'S 
FAIR 

PIPITS.  Fawn  breast  and  belly,  with 
a  few  grey  spots,  short  white  mark  over 
eye,  back  slate,  outer  tail  feathers  white. 

CUCKOOS.  Only  difference  is  black 
billed  species  has  ebony  black  bill,  the 
yellow  billed  has  lower  madible  and  part 
of  upper  yellow. 

SWALLOWS.  The  rough-winged  is  the 
only  dull  grey  swallow,  and  this  is  white  on 
vent.  Bank  swallow,  conspicuous  white 
throat,  grey  breast  and  white  belly,  back 
dark  greyish  brown. 

TUFTED  TITMOUSE  resembles  Cedar 
bird  in  shape,  though  colors  are  duller;  has 
no  black  line  through  eye,  back  grey. 

BOHEMIAN  WAXWING.  Quite  a  little 
larger  than  Cedar  bird.  Breast  of  latter 
shades  into  pure  white  on  belly  and  under 
tail,  the  Bohemian  has  belly  same  color  as 
breast,  cinnamon  brown,  and  feathers 
under  tail  decidedly  red.  Bohemian  here 
in  winter. 

SHRIKES.  Loggerhead  seems  much 
higher  colored  than  Northern.  Sharp  jet 


Bird  Observations 

black  heavy  mark  through  eye,  throat  pure 
white,  breast  almost  so.  Northern  has 
breast  with  fine  vermicular  markings,  which 
make  it  look  much  duller;  black  marks  not 
so  conspicuous.  Loggerhead  here  in 
winter. 

ORCHARD  ORIOLE.  One  of  the  darkest 
colored  birds  we  have.  I  can  think  of  none 
except  blackbirds,  crows,  and  chewinks 
which  are  blacker. 

HORNED  LARK.  Prairie  and  Shore  both 
here  in  winter.  Latter  has  yellow  stripes 
on  head  and  throat  yellow,  where  the  for- 
mer has  white. 

NUTHATCHES.  White-breasted  has  only 
one  broad  black  stripe  on  top  of  head,  red 
breasted  has  several  narrow  ones. 

FLYCATCHERS.  Crested:  belly  yellow, 
breast  grey.  Olive  sided:  large  birds, 
white  throat  extending  down  in  narrow  line 
through  middle  of  breast,  breast  sided  with 
dark  grey,  quite  a  marked  bird. 

PHOEBE.  White  of  throat  extends  half 
way  around  neck,  showing  at  sides 
plainly;  it  does  not  extend  so  far  in 
Pewee.  The  Pewees  are  darker  and  more 
slate  colored  than  some  of  the  Phoebes, 
some  individuals  of  the  latter  being 
brownish  and  marked  in  stripes  and  dots. 

[186] 


Bird  Observations 

THRUSHES.  It  is  very  difficult  to  dis- 
tinguish the  Olive-backed  from  the  Grey- 
cheeked.  The  throat  of  the  Olive-backed 
is  whiter,  and  breast  spots  rather  darker 
and  more  clearly  defined;  it  also  has  a 
marked  ring  of  yellowish  around  eye,  but 
the  Grey-cheeked  has  this  also,  though  not 
so  distinctly.  Breast  spottings  of  both 
these  thrushes  are  darker  and  more  dis- 
tinct than  those  of  Wilson's  Thrush  (the 
Veery,  or  Tawny  Thrush)  ;  the  latter  has 
rather  faint  tawny  spots,  which  do  not  ex- 
tend far  down  from  the  throat. 

VIREOS.  The  Warbling  is  the  dullest 
colored  and  one  of  the  smallest.  It  has  a 
wavering  white  line  over  the  eye  which 
stops  just  in  front  of  eye.  The  Red-eyed 
has  a  straight  white  line  over  the  eye 
which  extends  to  bill,  giving  a  striped  ap- 
pearance to  side  of  head;  the  Red-eyed  is 
also  decidedly  green  on  the  back  and  a 
much  prettier  and  more  elegant  looking 
bird  than  the  Warbling.  Bell's  Vireo  is 
dull  like  the  Warbling,  but  much  smaller, 
the  smallest  of  the  family.  Philadelphia 
vireo,  a  lovely  bird,  soft,  delicate  coloring, 
with  faint  wash  of  yellow  on  breast,  back 
tinged  with  ashy  red.  Yellow-throated 
vireo,  throat  bright  yellow  (much  yellower 


Bird  Observations 

than  the  Yellow-bellied  Flycatcher),  dis- 
tinct white  marks  on  wing.  The  White- 
eyed  vireo  looks  like  a  feeble  edition  of 
the  Yellow-throated,  washes  of  faint  yel- 
low on  sides  of  breast  and  yellowish  line 
over  eye.  Blue-headed  vireo,  very  marked 
bird,  slate  blue  head,  line  over  and  around 
eye  white,  throat  pure  white,  shading  to 
ashy  on  breast,  a  migrant. 

WARBLERS.  Tennessee  as  dull  as  the 
Warbling  vireo,  dullest  of  all  except  the 
Orange-crowned.  The  Tennessee  has 
whiter  throat  than  latter,  and  top  of  head 
is  slate  colored,  of  the  Orange-crowned, 
reddish. 

SPARROWS.  Field  sparrow,  dull  and 
grey  in  color,  no  marks  on  breast,  prevail- 
ing color  dark.  Leconte's,  a  little  like 
Snowflake  in  color,  light,  warm  tints  pre- 
vailing. White-throated  has  plain  grey 
breast  below  its  white  throat.  Savanna 
resembles  white-throated  in  its  markings, 
having  the  striped  appearance  to  the  head, 
but  the  breast  is  heavily  striped  with  black 
radiating  from  throat.  Fox  sparrow, 
very  large,  breast  marked  with  large  irreg- 
ular reddish  spots.  White-crowned  spar- 
row, equally  large;  no  white  on  throat, 
breast  plain  ash. 

[188] 


Nest  of  Field  Sparrow 


BIRDS  OBSERVED  AT  SAVAN- 
NAH, GEORGIA,  FEBRUARY  20- 
MARCH  12,  1907 


BIRDS  OBSERVED  AT  SAVANNAH, 

GEORGIA,  FEBRUARY  20- 

MARCH  12,  1907 

SONG  SPARROW, 

VESPER  SPARROW, 

WHITE-THROATED  SPARROW, 

MOCKING  BIRD, 

CARDINAL, 

CAROLINA  CHICKADEE, 

PURPLE  FINCH, 

TURKEY  BUZZARD, 

MEADOW  LARK, 

TOWHEE, 

BLUE  JAY, 

FISH  CROW, 

ROBIN, 

CAROLINA  WREN, 

TUFTED  TITMOUSE, 

MYRTLE   WARBLER, 

WAXWING, 

GOLDFINCH, 

BROWN  THRASHER, 

KINGFISHER, 

FLICKER, 

RED-HEADED  WOODPECKER, 

LOGGERHEAD  SHRIKE, 

CHIPPING  SPARROW, 

BLUEBIRD, 

[191] 


